Do you want ice with that?

23rd March 2025

While my week started off uneventfully, Stephen’s was action-packed – in comparison with mine, that is, so don’t get your hopes up too much.

Monday, he had a frisson of excitement when he took Harry out for his pre-bedtime comfort break (Harry’s, that is) and two furry things ran over his foot when he reached the bottom of the steps. It’s debatable who of those involved, Stephen, Harry or the unidentified creatures, had the biggest shock.

Tuesday, he had an early start as he had to be in a factory over in Montegranaro by 8 to check on the polishing of some boots before they were sent as samples – the early start being necessary because the woman who does it was only there till ten, and, more importantly, he had to be available for our sacrosanct breakfast at Pina by nine.

Wednesday was not so much Stephen as the weather making the news, waking as we did to a reading of 0° on our weather monitor and more than a little frost on the cars. The good news here is that being the end of March, this signified clear skies and warm sunshine during the day, and the frost on the windscreen vanishing of its own volition before he went to work.

What was very much to do with Stephen was him arriving home with a colomba that Harry had asked him to get as a present for me for the Festa del Papà. Father’s Day in Italy is always 19th March, being the feast day of Saint Joseph, the earthly father of Jesus, and the colomba, for those of you who don’t know, is the Easter equivalent of the panettone. As festive treats, there are some differences in taste and texture but the obvious distinction is in shape: the colomba being lower and in a symbolic dove shape, like an inflated plus sign. This can offer a challenge, as cutting wedges from the round panettone is relatively straightforward, but how to get even portions from the colomba can drive an obsessive person crackers. That’s why Stephen takes charge in our house.

Apart from more early morning frost on Thursday that was it until this weekend, which, bucking the recent trend, has been all go. Well, not quiet. Giulia cancelled her Saturday morning lesson, making it the fifth out of a possible eight – not a commendable record for someone desperate to improve her English.

Things got busier in the afternoon when we went to collect my new lenses from the optician, and I took my reading glasses with me for him to check, as requested. I think if the shop had been quiet like before, he would have spent a bit of time with us but, as it was on the busy side, he just looked at them, checked their degree of magnification and said he thought they would be too strong but to see how I got on with them, something that might have occurred to me even without his advice.

As for this morning, it was time for one of our occasional trips to Conad in Cuore Adriatico to stock up on essentials (e.g. gin and Nescafe Gold Blend) and non-perishables (e.g. tins of ragu and packets of wholegrain couscous) and other things that caught our eye. I won’t say what the bill came to, but we did come away with a large handful of Minecraft stickers, their current promotion, given pro rata for what you spend. What we’re going to do with them, though, is another matter; call me old fashioned, but I really think tonic (six bottles of Schweppes Zer0, 20 centesimi cheaper than at our local Coal) is a better bet to go with the gin.