Then mend it, dear Stephen

After last week’s few cooler and damper days this past week has been one of sunshine and the usual summer temperatures, which is just as well as Monday saw the start of Stephen’s holidays. To mark this, he used part of the morning to sweep and clean the far end of the terrazzo and then to bring up the sun beds ready for a spot of afternoon sunbathing, as that area gets the sun from late morning until it dips below the trees in the evening.

He wasn’t able to make much use of the beds on Tuesday, which turned out a bit busier than expected. The trip to Lidl in the morning, to stock up on basics, had been planned but a return breakfast at the bar at the garage was put on hold as, with local factories on holiday, it too was closed for the duration. We fell back on our former stopping off spot, the bar at the garage at the Cassette D’Ete crossroads (are you seeing a theme running here?), which whilst not closed did seem to be under new management. Instead of the usual father, mother and daughter team there was just one lady, whom we had not seen before, who was having to cope with a mini rush single-handed while maintaining a cheery countenance – as far as we could tell over her mask.

As for the afternoon, much of his time was taken up when there was another slight change of plan. We had thought that we were meeting Shoe Marco for aperitivo at Totò, but when, in that Italian way of giving you lots of notice, he messaged at 3pm to confirm that yes, he was able to meet up with us but that he wouldn’t be coming off the beach till about 6. As Totò closes at 8pm, the logistics just weren’t working so Stephen offered to do aperitivo at ours instead. A quick dash to the supermarket whilst I got on with my afternoon bits and pieces and he produced a spread to rival Totò, including a very fine ham, cheese and courgette strudel courtesy of 55Winston55 (other bearded YouTube cooks are available). I think Marco was duly impressed, with the food, the house, and, of course, the scintillating company. He may even come again.

He was also obviously taking notes for when Stephen had his first beach trip of his holidays the next day, when he met Computer Luca after lunch just this side of Pedaso, Marco turned up to join them. So well did he and Luca hit it off that they made plans to meet up again the next day, and Luca, intent on giving himself a busy day, said he would join Stephen and me in the evening on our return trip to Fermo market. Before that, however, I had online conversations calling me.

On Wednesday afternoon I was able to talk with Mum face-to-face over Messenger, which I found out was something that could be arranged if you booked it with the care home. It was very good to be able to see her and speak with her for the first time in months, but she, unsurprisingly, was most pleased at being able to see the Bella and Harry. Some things never change…

The other chat was with a new Conversation Exchange contact on Thursday morning. These have been a little more hit and miss due to the holiday period, but I am still managing to get in three or four a week. I was thinking that I had perhaps reached my limit for the moment, but the message I received from Omar, a man in his early forties from Sardegna, was so sweet that it would have taken a harder heart than mine (which is not difficult) to put up a ‘No Vacancies’ sign. He is looking to improve his English, not for holidays or his job, as is the usual case, but to be able to help his ten-year old daughter with her school work. And a very pleasant chat we had too, so pleasant we are doing it again next Wednesday.

As I mentioned, on Thursday evening we headed back to Fermo for a second visit to the market, this time with Luca and his brother, Alessio. Luca had messaged in the afternoon to ask if it was all right if Alessio joined us, which as we work on the basis of the more (within reason) the merrier, it was. Our plan to have aperitivo first hit a slight snag when Art Asylum had a notice saying that it was not open until 7pm, but that suited Luca as it turned out his main motivation in coming was to dragoon our help into a one-stop shopping expedition as he had two birthday presents to buy as well as wanting some new shorts. He was disappointed as far as the latter were concerned because when he described the type he wanted (“Short, really short”) it was based on a fantasia from his own head rather than something he had seen in a magazine, or on the beach.

He did manage to get his birthday presents, however, partly because he bagsied a very nice Alessi moka pot that was at a very nice sale price in a homeware shop, a moka that Stephen and I saw first and were debating to buy as our present for the same person. We gracefully stood aside for Luca, knowing how much support he needs that side of life, and besides as Stephen said afterwards, we can go to Civitanova and find something better.

With his purchases purchased, we were all able to relax and aperitivo followed by a wander round the stalls (more masks and bracelets) followed by pizza at Girfalco on the upper square by the church (with only a fifteen-minute wait to be seated at our booked table as the pizzeria tried to implement an anti-Covid sittings system on a nation with a remarkably fluid concept of time) followed by caffè at Foschi in the main square (maybe the best coffee in the area) made for a very pleasant evening indeed.

Stephen made it three days in a row with Computer Luca when he met him at the beach for the second time on Friday. This was almost a full day as he left midmorning, but we had to fit in my haircut and his turn for shopping duties before he was free to go. This time he headed north, to just past Ancona, where they were again joined by shoe Marco with a friend in tow, who was also called Marco just to add to the confusion. Stephen, bless him, was very excited to be al mare in time for lunch as it meant he could indulge in a plate of something seafoody, only it didn’t. They left it too late before hitting the café, so that instead of a bowl piled high with spaghetti and various items in shells he had to make do with a ham sandwich. I was so upset for him when I heard.

Yesterday, as you should know by now, was Ferragosto, one of the main holiday days in Italy. We celebrated in our usual way by staying home, not having an extended family stretching into the hundreds to celebrate with, nor wanting to spend five hours over lunch in a steaming chalet. Some other people who may not have made pranzo in famiglia were those attending the all-night Ferragosto party in a field somewhere over the river towards San Rustico, whose music accompanied us to bed on Friday and greeted us when we awoke the next morning. Needless to say, we were thankful that it stopped at 7am, shortly after sunrise, and even more thankful for effective double-glazing and our new tower ventilator that ensured we got a decent night’s sleep.

That would have been it for the weekend if not for a notice from the Comune the other day saying that water supplied to the house was only to be used for domestic and hygiene purposes, ruling out dousing the tomato plants in order to ensure swelling fruit. That is why Stephen spent a less than happy hour or so this afternoon wrestling with the well and more particularly the bucket as he investigated its possibilities as a back up water source. The problem seemed to be that the bucket had been left suspended at the top of the well and not soaking in the water, causing it to dry out and for the wooden base to shrink. The resulting gaps plus some unhelpful holes in metal sides, like someone had taken a shotgun to it, meant that the bucket might make a reasonably efficient shower but not a reliable receptacle for transporting water. Using some silicon (designated on the tube as suitable for stone work) and some thick, shiny, metal flue sealant, he has effected repairs, but how effective they are will have to wait to be seen. And there was me so recently bemoaning the lack of drama in our weekends. As they say: be careful what you wish for…