Hit the road

After such an exciting weekend and seeing the Giro d’Italia in full, living colour, I would like to say that the reason Jacky extended her stay with us by an extra day was because she was having so much fun. This was not the case; rather, it had more to do with Lufthansa contacting her on Monday afternoon to say that her flight the next morning had been cancelled.

Being someone who almost thrives on such hiccups, Stephen leapt into cyber action and managed to rebook her travel arrangements for Wednesday, though by a somewhat more protracted route. It started at Ancona and finished at Manchester as before, but took in two connecting flights instead of one, at Munich and Amsterdam, meaning she arrived home well into the evening – minus her case which came the next day. We did, though, have to absolve Lufthansa from responsibility as we learned the next day, from Manuel’s mother, Novella, that it was due to a lightening strike at Ancona Airport. Nor were there any complaints about the nice ladies at the check-in desk, who were more than helpful in doing all they could to make the postponed journey as smooth as possible.

The extra day did mean, though, that Jacky was able to join us on Tuesday morning for our shopping trip and, more importantly, breakfast at Pina. She was suitably impressed with what she found, so impressed that not only did she buy two boxes of Venchi chocolate squares but also a perfumed candle. If only we had realised beforehand we could have headed straight there last week and solved all her present buying problems, even if the presents were for herself – and why not?

Just as our visitor left the weather decided to turn hot at last, but with a good degree of cloud. This is never a good sign, as indeed it proved when on Thursday afternoon, just after I had started the lesson with Gloria and Riccardo, the heavens opened. To say that it was a torrential downpour fails to do justice to the fierce onslaught, reminiscent of when we made our first abortive attempt to visit the Leopardi house in Recanati and had to stay in our Panda as the hail lashed and the ensuing swell of water overflowing the gutters gently rocked the car. Whilst we suffered no effects at the time, the same can’t be said for the road and a second deluge within the space of a week left the surface of the top section more scarified and the channels at the side deeper, but fortunately still drivable.

Actually, when I say drivable that is with a certain caveat, as we found out the next morning when we left on our usual Friday outing to do the shopping (yes, twice a week). We had just turned the corner onto the tarmacked road when Stephen pulled over and stopped. The car had felt decidedly unresponsive, and on inspection the cause turned out to be a flat tyre on the front passenger side. We assumed it was due to one or other of the sharp-edged stones dislodged by the previous day’s hailstorm, but whatever the reason Stephen had to squat down and effect a quick and efficient wheel change while I did my bit by making encouraging noises. As if that wasn’t bad enough, when we got to the supermarket and popped into Bar del Borgo for breakfast it was to find them without any breakfast brioches and without any power, so they weren’t even able to make us a cappuccino. It never rains but it pours…

After my lunchtime lesson at Mancini (when I had to take the long way round as the road to San Rustico past our house was closed due to mud), Stephen took the car to the tyre place in Porto Sant’Elpidio where they were able to carry out only a temporary fix as they didn’t have suitable tyres in stock. This means we will have to go back next Tuesday to get the car sorted properly, so in the meantime we spent most of the weekend hanging around the old homestead, not wanting to put the car under any undue pressure. We were helped in this (unfortunately) as one of our favourite feste of the year, Cerreto Medievale, was cancelled as, lying as it does in the bottom of the valley, the ground was just too sodden.

Not that you would have thought so yesterday afternoon when the sun came out and bathed the front of the house in glorious sunshine, encouraging several geckos as well as a black snake, of the baby variety, to bask on the steps. Fortunately, they all made good their escape into various hidey-holes when Bella and Harry made for the garden. Unfortunately, the sunshine was short lived as when we woke this morning it was to leaden skies and persistent rain. While this eased off around lunchtime, it was particularly heavy when we went into MSP to vote in the elections for the European Parliament. There was a steady stream of people at the Scuola Media which was serving as the polling station, as well as standing room only in Bar del Borgo, which seemed to have recovered from it blip earlier in the week and is obviously the place to be on a Sunday morning when the rain is persisting down and there is an election.

As for the voting itself, this seemed to be a somewhat more complicated procedure than in the UK, though it might just be that it was different. The voting paper was certainly a deal larger, and had to be unfolded three times to open it up. I also have a sneaking suspicion that I may have placed my vote in the wrong place, for there was no box for your cross nor any simple instructions for idiot non-Italian speakers on the form or displayed in the booth. I did what I thought was the obvious thing, hoped for the best and headed back out, umbrella aloft, into the rain.