A perfect blendship

15th October 2023

After a quiet Monday it was all go on Tuesday, and when the alarm went off at 6 am it was to lively warm wind and a temperature of 22.7, presaging early afternoon highs around 30°. Fortunately that aberration lasted only for a day, it being far too late in the year for such things, though generally the week did give the distinct impression that summer was making a determined attempt at a comeback.

But to get to the important matter: why were we up earlier than usual? Because Stephen and Bertrando were off to Milan for an overnight visit to take in a few important meetings and I had to slot Bella’s appointment at the vet into my busy schedule.

The good thing about Stephen’s jaunt was that he travelled in style as Bertrando drove them there in his commodious Mercedes, so not only could he relax but I was spared two trips back and forth to the railway station. They made it in time for lunch, despite hold ups on the autostrada, and were taken by the big bosses to Portrait Milano, an obscenely chic hotel and one of the places to be seen in the city, where Stephen’s portion of white pasta (made with just the albumen, no yolks) was in inverse proportion to its price (€26 in case you’re interested). Lunch the next day was a little more restrained; having been told he wasn’t needed for the midday meeting and given the company credit card as a sop, he knows his place and found a more modest spot to eat, though one with a view overlooking the Duomo as it was at the top of Rinascenti, Milan’s equivalent of Selfridges and one of the few department stores in Italy.

While Stephen was on his way to Milan, I was struggling with Bella at the vet’s, though you can’t blame her as I might be a little put out being made to lie on my side while a strange woman shaved my belly then rubbed a scanner all over it for twenty minutes. That about sums it up but there was a bit more to it, of course, including another Guardia di Finanza, which makes us think that if an important government office uses the clinic, we made the right decision in going there.

As for the visit in its entirety, I arrived in good time to another full house, but didn’t have too long to wait as being booked in for the scan I by-passed the others and was taken into the back where a nice lady was waiting by something resembling a gurney and standing by a laptop. She first shaved the sides of Bella’s stomach area, which was all well and good, but then we had to get her to lie down on her side. Generally, Bella is very placid and accommodating but for whatever reason she is not generally agreeable to being held too closely, and she gipped somewhat at this suggestion. The vet had to come as we were making such a commotion, but then he and the nice lady showed me how to execute the manoeuvre, which seemed more like something used for downing steer to brand, but by holding her legs as shown and keeping my forearm across her upper body we got her in the correct position.

She acquiesced for a while, and the nice lady got on with running the hand-held scanner, the size of a large pen with a roller-like top, over her stomach, marking the picture on the laptop with labels for the area in question. All would have been well, I think, if the process hadn’t have taken such a long time. We were coming up to the midway point when Bella thought that enough was enough and started to try to get up. At first, her attempts were a bit half-hearted, but then they became more frequent and more emphatic, and I was having more of a struggle to persuade her to lie still. Eventually, on the second time she emitted a piercing squeal at the same time, prompting another visit from the vet, the nice lady said the rest could be done with Bella standing - and I don’t think she was the only member of the family who thought, “Thank goodness for that.”

The scanning complete, I waited in reception while the vet and the nice lady had a confab. The upshot, when he came through to speak to me, if not exactly good news, was more or less what could be expected. There was nothing seriously amiss, other than that she is getting on a bit. Her aging kidneys are not functioning fully and her liver is also showing signs of wear and tear; he wants to check her again in six months, but in the meantime we are changing her food to one for renal support and administering a tablet daily from now on for her liver.

The vet gave me a sample of the tablet and I went with it in the afternoon to the chemist to see if they had any in stock. Unsurprisingly they didn’t; I guess there is not a high demand for dog and cat liver pills in Monte San Pietrangeli. I ordered some and collected them the next day, after having given Bella the sample one with her breakfast. And what a size they are, too big to force down her throat in one hit, which meant that I had – and will have – to break it – them - in half, then open up her muzzle and throw each part as far into her gullet as possible twice per tablet. It could be worse, at least she can take them standing up.

Stephen was home on Wednesday evening, too late for dinner but not too late for a well-deserved glass of wine, and in good time for the arrival the next day of our visitors, Dave and Josie. They had spent a week or so in Southern Italy, mainly the Puglia region, and were calling by for three nights on their way to Verona. We didn’t over-exert them during their stay as we thought they needed a bit of down time after a wealth of sightseeing so far on their trip. We did introduce them to our Friday morning routine, though when Stephen left us in Bar del Borgo for his haircut and Josie asked if the barber’s was in the same complex, she might have over-estimated the extent of MSP’s commercial centre.

After waving Stephen off to work and depositing the shopping at LCDDB, I took Dave and Josie to Porto San Giorgio, where we made the most of the mid-autumn sunshine and more than balmy temperature to take a gentle wander round the town and along the lungomare before a spot of lunch and then a walk on a beach dotted with sunbathers. Back home, we were rejoined by Stephen after he finished work, who came bearing a very fine begonia for me and an equally fine but somewhat smaller one to take for Maddalena. We were meeting her and Marco at their house for an aperitivo before introducing Dave and Josie to the wonder that is dining at Pina.

“No food,” Stephen had emphatically told her, knowing how much would lie ahead, so the crisps and breadsticks and pizza squares and olives she had out to accompany a glass of Prosecco obviously don’t count. Pina was Pina, so our guests were charmed and stuffed with food in equal measure and we came home with three foil trays of leftovers, some antipasto bits and pieces to add to the next day’s lunch and some meat for the freezer.

As for the next day, most of it was spent at home, at least during the hours of daylight. Dave and Josie took a walk into town before lunch, then afterwards Dave earned his keep by fixing, with the help of Stephen and to a lesser extent Josie, our shower door. This has been somewhat adrift for some time now, and we thought that a bit of a puddle every time we showered was just part of the rich tapestry of life, that is until Dave worked his DIY magic (or fai da te, as he recently discovered it is in Italian) and readjusted the brackets holding one of the glass panels so that the door once again made a snug seal when it was closed. A job well done was more than enough of an excuse to hit the town in the evening, this time Civitanova for a stroll round the shops followed by dinner at Ars Vivendi (the enoteca we went to the other week) followed by ice cream and home.

And before we knew it, three days (or two and a half if you want to be pedantic) had passed and it was time to wave Dave and Josie on their way to Verona and for us to get on with some things that we had happily put on the back burner while they were with us. It was lovely to see them and to catch up with things, but what was also special was to be given the chance to see this little corner of Le Marche through their eyes. Dave said on more than one occasion that he loves this part of Italy, with its undulating countryside looking one way to the sea and the other to the mountains. He’s right, of course, but when you become used to something you can start to forget how special it is, so we have to say thank you to our visitors for sharing their time with us, but also reminding us how lucky we are to be where we are.