Hard or soft?

After a very wet Sunday (which given the results from various polls around Europe could have been seen as pathetic fallacy; but be gone political comment and pretentiousness) this past week could be said to have been a game of two halves where the weather is concerned. Actually, it was more like a game of five sevenths and two sevenths, but that hardly trips off the tongue. More of that later.

As far as lessons are concerned the dynamics of the week have changed somewhat, with Monday and Wednesday being pretty full days and the rest of the week ticking over. I fully expect all that to change soon as various students start dropping off for the summer, and, in fact, Tuesday evening was the last lesson for Rocco and Laura, who left saying they would see me in September, if not knocking around MSP.

Hanging around downtown MSP might actually be a little more difficult as there is a new sheriff in town, and one out to make his mark. Those with long memories will remember the occasional mention of the lady who filled the office of vigile urbano – sort of a traffic warden with extra responsibilities. She has been noticeable by her absence for some time now, as evinced by it having become once again impossible to find a parking space in Piazza Umberto when breakfasting in Pina as people flout the one hour only rule. All this is now a thing of the past and the people of the town are not happy.

If it weren’t bad enough that some small bollards (known affectionately in Italy as panettoni) have been placed at the top of the narrow road leading to the square to stop residents and visitors parking cars in such a way as to jut out and create an obstacle to passing traffic, local danders were raised when the Pina twins, Diego and Luigi, were given parking tickets for not being within the marked lines. According to the outraged populace, it wasn’t their fault as it was due to the knock on effect of everyone being slightly out of alignment so that by the time it got to the end of the row they had no choice but to straddle the lines. There is much muttering amidst the ranks, so should you hear on the news that MSP’s Comune has been stormed and the mayor held to ransom, you will know what the cause is.

It was also matters automobile that exercised us on Tuesday, with an unforeseen development that was maybe not quite so unforeseen as far as Stephen was concerned.

The day started off with taking the Panda to have the new tyres fitted following last week’s puncture. It was my first time at that particular garage so I have only Stephen’s word to go by for its dramatic makeover since aligning itself with Kwik Fit and rebranding and updating its image. The owner, however, despite some new overalls, was as affably reassuring as Stephen found him previously and his wife, who runs the front office, as ostensibly ditzy. We didn’t, however, make full use of the customer waiting room, opting instead to pop next door to the incongruously juxtaposed ultra-chic Malloni shop where we had breakfast in its trendy and on trend plastic-free bar, Malloni Trace. I wonder when Pina is going to start serving its cappuccino in a handleless glass beaker presented on a slate tile?

When we returned to the garage, we only had a few minutes to wait till the car was ready and then we headed back towards MSP, stopping off on the way at Autopompei to book the Panda in for its service and its first MOT – or, rather, the Italian equivalent. It was while we were driving into the parking area that Stephen spotted an old Land Rover Defender, a car he has long coveted and one which would be an ideal second car for getting up our road and for when the weather is bad in the winter. The only draw back was that it cost €22,000, somewhat way out of our price range for a first car, never mind a back up. What they did have, however, was a 27-year-old Daihatsu Freeclimber Bertone with an eight-year-old BMW engine that Lorenzo Pompei, son of the owner, said was very reliable and which he had been using for off-road driving events.

Well, we thought, it looked stylish in an almost vintage sort of way, the price (considerably less than the Defender) was something we could afford and if Lorenzo had been driving it then it should be ok. As that is about as far as our knowledge of second-hand cars goes, we went home to think about it and dragooned Manuel, the bff, into the business. When Stephen phoned him to ask his opinion, he was, fortuitously, in Fermo and offered to call in and look at it on his way home. The upshot of this was that he called back a little while later to say that yes, he thought it was a good buy and that he had got us €500 off the price. The further upshot was we returned to Autopompei mid-afternoon to say that yes, we would take it and to sign the relevant papers, leaving the small matter of breaking into our savings, transferring the money and organising the insurance.

Whilst the former of these, thanks to the wonders of online banking, was fairly easy to accomplish, the latter has proved a little more difficult. When we went, on Thursday, to see our friendly insurance agent in Montegranaro the first disappointment was that his fierce assistant was no longer there. The second disappointment was the eye-watering quote he got for insuring the car, coming in at roughly a third of what we were paying for it. He apologised for this, not that it was his fault, as apparently in Italy unlike the UK, the older the car the more the insurance until it gets to the grand age of 30 when suddenly it plummets to around €100, being classed as vintage. Whilst it is only three years until the Freeclimber is eligible for its state pension, that is no consolation at the moment as we need to find cheaper insurance. The nice man said he would do some more digging and would be in touch with us on Monday. In the meantime, Manuel ‘Mr Fix-it’ Martinelli was aghast at the figure quoted and said he would get his man on the case. Watch this space…

Elsewhere I’m pleased to be able to say that at last the weather seems to have got its act together after a particularly dismal May. It was most strange because as soon as June dawned yesterday morning there was a distinct climatic change, and whilst yesterday was very much a transition period, today has seen gloriously blue skies and temperatures in the mid to high twenties. That’s more like it should be. This was just as well as we’d already decided to take a trip inland to Sarnano, the entrance to the Sibillini Mountains, as this weekend was their Festa del Ciauscolo e del Salame spalmabile. Ciauscolo is a Marche speciality, being a soft salame, which, as it says, is spreadable, should you so wish, and which those of us not seduced by the notion that all sausage needs to be hard find a very fine local delicacy.

We weren’t tempted, however, to buy one from any of the various small producers dotted around the old town, as one ciauscolo divided between two people means an awful lot of salame. We did, though, enjoy a stroll in the sunshine (at last) and had a very fine meal (featuring said ciauscolo in various guises) provided by the Pro Loco in the old market hall. That is, we had a fine meal when it eventually arrived; just like the last time when we visited the new wine festival, the table we chose to sit at was overlooked by the people serving while they saw to all the others around us. I’m not sure what it is that makes us instantly invisible and I’m not entirely sure how to avoid it a third time – maybe we need to stand up and wave a sausage.