See you through the week

To start with an update about Mum, she returned home on Friday with the short-term care package in place. This means that for two weeks a care worker will come four times a day to help her in the morning and late evening and also to administer her medication. It was still, though, touch and go as to whether she would make it home, as when Douglas turned up with Dad on Tuesday it was to find the ward closed off due to an outbreak of flu, for which we were later told Mum had tested positive. That, however, had changed by Thursday – ironically the day Dad was having his flu jab, Mum having been given hers in the hospital just before she tested positive - when word came that she would be discharged the following morning as, apparently, she was “not problematic”. No comment.

As for life in LCDDB, the weather continued warm at the beginning of the week, Stephen continued to be busy with shoe business and I picked up the old routine. Or not quite as there was a variation to it on Tuesday afternoon when I was in giro with Stephen. We first called in to the optician in Corridonia to make an appointment for me for an eye test the next morning before dropping by a sole factory for Stephen to pick up some prototype soles and then heading to Click Café, the coffee shop (as in selling things for making coffee and a variety of hot beverages) franchise in Campiglione. We called in to see if there had been any progress on their compostable capsules; there wasn’t. The nice man (another Massimo) said that in his opinion you actually get a better cup of coffee from the individual portions that look like a circular tea bag as these are more akin to the way an espresso machine works. The only machine they have that does this was rather large and somewhat lacked subtlety in its design, but Massimo said there was a new, smaller model coming out at the end of November, so we may be back.

The next morning we returned to the optician for my eye test. It is just over a year since my last one, but this visit was prompted by a significant deterioration of my vision, especially in my right eye, which seems to have speeded up over the past couple of months. On examination, the optician said that yes, my prescription had changed and was worse with the pressure in both eyes was high – the left being at the top of the scale and the right being over it. We asked him if he could recommend an ophthalmologist, which he did, only a couple of doors up from his shop. Stephen phoned in the afternoon to make an appointment and was told that the first available one was at the end of December. However, when he explained that the optician had said it was a matter of some urgency we were told to come next Monday afternoon and wait for a gap in the proceedings.

Wednesday also saw a change in the weather, with some rain in the afternoon and definite autumnal vibe setting in. Whilst it wasn’t particularly cold we did switch on the central heating for the first time on Thursday to cheer the place up a bit, though as yet there has been no need for a fire. Whenever that happens it will be later than in 2018, as Facebook kindly reminded me that last year we marked the public holiday for All Saints Day on 1st November with our first log burning of the season. This year we marked it by staying at home and relaxing, which seemed a good idea to us.

I say relaxing, and whilst the pace was maybe a bit gentler I still had things to do with lesson preparation, partly because in a change to normal programming I had my weekly lesson with the Montegranaro children yesterday afternoon, two days early, due to my tentative appointment with the ophthalmologist. What Diego and Marzia made of having to do a lesson on Saturday afternoon in the middle of the holiday weekend they were much too polite to say, and still seemed happy to see me, proving again how well brought-up they are.

As for today, we eventually made it to the Bauhaus exhibition in Macerata this afternoon, something that Stephen has wanted to see for some time. It was very much a case of now or never, it being the last day. This might account for why a couple of the films being shown in stand-alone mirrored cabinets were not working, but there were enough interesting objects and an impressive collection of various books on the movement to satisfy our curiosity. The visit to Macerata also coincided with a French market in the main square, which proved another pleasant diversion. We resisted the allures of the chocolate and cakes, but did leave with two jars of wholegrain mustard and a pack of three jars of pâté.

While it is not impossible to come by in Italy, wholegrain mustard, especially one worth buying, is very hard to come by in our neck of the bosco, and as for pâté, I had not realised till I saw it, that this is something I have never seen here. I dare say that something akin to it may be available, possibly in the north of the country, but round here those parts of the animal are made into salami. Not that I am complaining, as we have had some very fine homemade salumi, but a wodge of chunky pâté on some hot buttered toast seems a very good idea for when we eventually get round to lighting a log fire.