Blue sky thinking

28th August 2022

Stephen’s week off work was ostensibly over on Monday, but his return was delayed when he got a call just after breakfast saying that our firewood, all 60 quintali of it, would be delivered that morning around 10.30.

This should not have been a surprise, as we (i.e., Manuel) had been told that the wood would be delivered the week beginning 22nd August, which in general Italian terms means sometime before the middle of September. We were stunned, but in a good way, that our supplier was keeping to his timescale – almost.

As the time neared, Stephen drove up to the top of the road as it had been agreed he would meet the wagon there and bring the driver down in the Panda so he could judge the feasibility of getting back up again with an empty vehicle. It was almost 11 before Stephen returned, alone. He had received a message saying that things were running late, which at least was a bit more reassuringly Italian; only a couple of hours into the working week and we were already behind schedule.

There wasn’t long to wait before the driver rang to say that he had arrived, so Stephen went back up and returned with him and Manuel, who had come to make sure that there was no jiggery-pokery. After a quick recce, they all disappeared back up the hill and minutes later the wagon came down. It had a little bit of trouble manoeuvring in front of the garage, but nothing major, and then he tipped up the back and a hillock of logs tumbled out. It all seemed too simple, and indeed it was, but you won’t be surprised to know what happened next.

The driver tried once, and he tried twice, (though on neither occasion did he really seem to be putting his heart into it) but he didn’t make it past the usual spot where people come to a stop. There was a slight variation to the usual follow-up action in that Luigi was unavailable (his wife seemed to think he had a doctor’s appointment, but she wasn’t sure), so it was Mario who came down on the Lamborghini tractor with the caterpillar tracks (the usual one was otherwise occupied) to give the truck the moral support to make it all the way to the top.

This all meant that by the time Stephen returned to the house it was heading towards 1 o’clock, but lunch was further delayed as before he came up, he went into the downstairs storeroom and emerged with the mattock and headed up the hill on foot. He was back about ten minutes later, and when I asked said that he had been seeing to a big hole in the road that the wagon had made. No change there then.

As for the wood itself, we are very pleased with the quality, which seems good, and the logs have a decent heft to them suggesting they will burn efficiently, though the first task was to get them stored away. Stephen started on this in the afternoon (things being a bit quiet at the office he was home betimes) and I joined him after walking the dogs. He did a bit more on Tuesday morning before he went to work, and again in the afternoon with me joining in again after the walk. Wednesday morning, we completed the job, with the elegant variation of some of the logs being stacked against a wall under the terrazzo to give a sort of frontier log cabin vibe. With an abundance of wood (hopefully), we had to be creative in where to store it.

While Stephen was busy with his moving business on Tuesday afternoon, Mario, who had come down to get something from their barn, stopped to pass the time of day. They talked about the wood and then Stephen asked when the sunflowers would be harvested. They are now at the stage where they look like survivors of a wildfire, with bowed and blackened seed heads. Indeed, that morning when I was out with Bella and Harry for our walk, we were passed by a man in a black Jeep Renegade, and when we went down to the bottom of the lane, he was standing surveying the fields, checking on the flowers. Obviously, I don’t know what his decision was but there has been no start on the fields as yet. What I do know is that when he got back in his car, he was able to drive with ease up both the unmade track and the gravelly road with apparent ease – a major plus point in the Renegade’s favour as a possible replacement for the Freeclimber.

As for Mario, he wasn’t able to give Stephen any indication of when their harvesting would start, but he did say something that you might find interesting. He and Luigi keep bees (which I didn’t know, but which didn’t surprise me as they seem to have a finger in all those sorts of pies), and in planting their field they had gone back to using the old type of sunflower seed. Last year, the field near their hives was planted with the new, modified seed, which the bees shunned and consequently they had very little honey. I leave you to draw your own conclusions from that little digression.

Thursday, while work was still on the quiet side, we took a trip to Civitanova for a wander round the shops and then apericena at a new spot (at least to us), Thirteen, a cocktail bar on the Corso Dalmazia, just off the main square. Thirteen because, appropriately enough, that is its street number, but maybe also because the padrone and barman spoke English, having worked in London for a period. We are more than happy to add it to our list of recommended places, which is admittedly short but as they say, quality not quantity. We opted for a plate of finger food and Marche delicacies, and a cocktail each – mine Miss Scarlet and Stephen’s Prof Plum. Yes, they and their confederates are named after Cluedo characters – though it’s no mystery, given what an enjoyable time we had, why we will be returning. (See what I did there?)

I thought that our visit to the big city would be the culmination of the week, but of course I reckoned without Stephen springing a surprise on me. Still working on a part-time basis until the return to full time and the big push next week, he came home for lunch on Friday saying that he didn’t need to go back to the office. What he did need to do, though, was to head off later in the afternoon to source some paint to turn the parts of a blue leather ankle boot and thigh boot into a colour more in line with the customer’s impracticable vision. To this end he returned with a spray can of car paint, sourced from an obliging assistant at the paint store in Corridonia who said, when Stephen asked if they had anything close to what he wanted, that he could mix it up for him – and twenty minutes later there it was.

The actual spraying of the leather was left till yesterday morning, when I was asked to assist in the operation by holding an electric fan over the work area. Work area, I will admit, is rather a grand term for an assemblage of three cardboard boxes on the grass (thank goodness for the new lawnmower) at the back of the house. Two of these had been opened flat, with one on the ground and the other folded at the flaps to form a splashback. This in turn was supported by a box that was still a box placed behind it.

This hi-tech arrangement was further enhanced when Stephen passed an electrical extension and a fan through the downstairs washroom window. The latter I plugged into the former and waited for Stephen to arrive. When he did, he arranged the pieces of the ankle boot on the cardboard while I held the fan over them at a height and angle that he manoeuvred me into. This was because rather than spray down onto the leather, he wanted a better effect by aiming forward and for the drops to fall like gentle rain from Heaven onto it.

Such was the theory, but the fact was that the force of the aerosol meant the only thing that really got painted was the splashback. I stood back, my part in the action being little more than a cameo, and provided moral support while Stephen sprayed directly onto the pieces, first from a bit of a distance, then getting right in there. Admittedly, he could have done this at the beginning, but it is always better to proceed with caution.

Stephen swapped the pieces over for the larger ones for the thigh boots, which offered a bit more of a challenge in getting them all onto the cardboard without any overlap. Once he was happy, he went at them with gusto, getting the desired effect just as the paint started to run out. While all the parts were drying, we began tidying away the other bits and pieces, which is when Stephen held up another piece of pale blue leather and wondered aloud where it fitted in. He didn’t actually say, but it must have been an integral part as he went to spray that too – but the only thing he managed to get from the near empty can was a pathetic splutter.

There was nothing for it but to go and get some more. A quick change and off Stephen went in the car, only to come home empty handed as the store was closed because, of course, no one wants to be doing any DIY on their cars at the weekend. As the leather is needed first thing on Monday, it means Stephen will be pressing his nose up against the paint shop door at 8.00 for when it reopens so he can dash back home to spray and go.