Missing in action

I’m not sure how useful Mario and Luigi will have found their off-cuts of plasterboard this week as the weather has continually veered between warm and sunny and cold and wet. Monitoring the area on my daily walks over the water table with Bella and Harry, the damp conditions seem to have hastened the demise of the makeshift pontoon, which had been given a kick-start when the brothers drove their tractor over it, inflicting serious fracturing.

It wasn’t only the plasterboard that was doing a vanishing act as Stephen was noticeable by his absence during the working week on account of a customer from the UK who seemed to think that he needed four days sorting out current and future production at the Carellis’ factory. This meant that I was lunching alone, enjoying a light meal to set me up for the afternoon while Stephen had to brave his way through the four courses that Mrs C considers necessary when feeding guests. Fortunately for him, however, he was able to dodge most of the onslaught as her focus was on feeding up Jeremiah (whose name has been changed to protect the innocent) who, being the customer and British, was obviously in need of some proper food for a change.

I was able to spend some quality time with Stephen in the evenings, once he had finished scouring the Marche for soles, leather and accessories. He was home in time for dinner on Monday as Jeremiah, feeling a little under the weather after a very early start from home, beat a hasty retreat to his agriturismo for an early night. Tuesday it was pizza at the Carellis, and I was invited to join them at 8pm, the same time I was told to turn up on Thursday for, according to Stephen, a barbecue. Thinking I was going to be standing around outside, and it not being the warmest of evenings, I layered up appropriately only to find, on arriving at the house, that what he meant by barbecue was sitting round the table eating meat that had been cooked over an open fire in the back kitchen.

In between these two visits to the Carellis, it was dinner for one when Mirko and Stephen took Jeremiah for a boys’ night out in Civitanova at Vittoriano, one of the town’s newest and trendiest bars and self-styled king of the Italian aperitivo. You could tell it was a place not to be messed with as Jeremiah’s fruit fantasia of a cocktail was given extra oomph by the waiter spraying it with essence of some on trend exotic aromatic from an atomizer after it had been served at the table. Now that’s what I call posh.

Stephen was also AWOL on Friday morning when he had to leave at 7.00 am to ride shotgun for Mirko when he took Jeremiah to the airport. He didn’t return till lunchtime, as he was dropped off in Civitanova on the way back to rendezvous with his bff, Manuel, who had had to struggle through the week without him. This doesn’t mean, though, that I was all alone at LCDDB as we had a mid-morning visit from our old friends, Orzo and Nuvola. They had obviously, like last time, become a little bored being fenced in at the Pina twins’ small holding and decided to dig their way out again for a mooch around and made a beeline for LCDDB. Like last time, they showed little inclination to move on or return home, so I called Stephen, who was in the car with Manuel, who in turn phoned Pina where he spoke to Mara, who in turn said she would contact Diego.

It wasn’t very long afterwards that Luigi, driving the brothers’ white van, did a three-point turn in our drive so that the doors were facing downhill to make it easier for Diego, who was with him, to bundle the dogs into the back. Unfortunately, neither Orzo nor Nuvola seemed to want to work with him on this; rather, they had wandered away down the lane and over the wheat fields. Fortunately, the river at the bottom proved an effective barrier, but despite Diego plaintively calling out their names, they were not for rushing back. It was while he was pacing the river bank that Luigi and I spotted the dogs over to the right, crossing a far off field and seeming to be heading home, whereupon Luigi presented me with his old flip phone. “Trovami Diego,” he said, obviously even less au fait with modern technology than I am, so I scrolled through the names till I found Diego and handed it back. After a brief conversation Luigi got into the van and headed back up the hill, and that was the last I saw of both dogs and humans. I can only assume that Orzo and Nuvola had decided it was time for forty winks and had gone home for a rest.

With time for things other than shoes, Stephen’s mind turned to matters horticultural yesterday morning and we made a trip over to the ferramenta in Francavilla for some tomato and some aubergine plants. While we were there another reason to shop local came up when Stephen asked the son (who controls the counter while his parents sort out the various customers, especially those buying plants) for a disc-shaped battery for the remote control for the kitchen radio. These, as you are probably aware, come in packs of two, but he kindly snipped one in half and charged us half price for the one he gave us. There was more than a generous spirit behind this, however, for, as he said when he handed the battery over, not only will it pre-empt us losing the spare one but we will have to come back to buy it from him.

We followed this with a shopping trip to Aldi to stock up on basics, slotting in another lunch break at Altamare on the way, timing it for a little later to avoid the 12 o’clock rush in which we were caught last time out. Another visit or two and we might become regulars, like some of the ones who were eating obviously were. These included the gentleman of a certain age and wig style who before he went to collect his food asked if the chair next to Stephen was free and claimed it with his cushion. There’s nothing like making yourself at home, which is what another of the customers must have thought as she brought her dog with her. Admittedly it was on the small and well-behaved side, but it was still something you would be unlikely to see in the UK.

We were back in good time in the afternoon, meaning Stephen was able to plant the tomatoes and aubergines we had bought that morning. This was just as well, as today has proved to be somewhat wet – good, I suppose, for bedding in the new veg but not for getting out and about. It did seem the sort of weather, though, to do a spot of home baking so I tried out a new recipe, a ciambella made with limoncello, which turned out very well even if I say so myself, and tasted as good as it looks. According to the recipe, should you so desire, you can ring the changes with the cake by using other flavours such as brandy: seems like an idea for passing the time on rainy days, finding out what spirit is the best. I’ll drink to that.