Having a blast

26th May 2024

Starting with the good news, Bella’s injection seems to have had a beneficial effect. She’s standing better and seems a bit more willing to go out on her walks, and the reduced reliance on chunks of wurstel now there is just the BeSame to administer is a definite advantage. As for the bad news, if I can go that far, that is all down to things mechanical.

The air cannon that started relatively innocuously last Sunday continued on Monday, and was a bit more intrusive. Tuesday it wasn’t so bad, partly due to the heavy rain that arrived the previous night (and boy, did it come down) and continued the next morning, so I presume that would be enough to deter the birds. The return of fine weather on Tuesday afternoon, with sunshine, blue skies and increasingly warm temperatures heading to the high 20s, meant a return of the cannon, plus another one, volleying at an increased frequency for most of the daylight hours. One was a little distanced but the other was very close and the combined unsynchronised booming started to make it seem like the Siege of Harfleur. Fortunately, our bombardment was somewhat less than six weeks. By Friday we were back to one, the distant one firing less frequently (presumably the seeds in the nearer field had started to sprout) and relative calm descended for the weekend.

The other technical issue is with the Renegade. We took it first thing Monday morning to Ivano at the garage for its service, collecting it in the evening. Everything seemed ok until he said that there was an odd noise when the engine was running. Stephen said that he had noticed it too, but I was the one who drove the car most of the time. I waited for the ground to swallow him up following this blatant untruth, seeing as I only use it solo twice a week to go to lessons and all the other times he drives when we are a deux, but it didn’t, and I kept well buttoned. Ivano said he wanted it back to take a proper look, but it would be next week before he could fit us in. In the meantime, he said to use it as little as possible, so the Panda has once again assumed prime position. Stephen says he thinks the noise has to do with the tappets, and who am I to disagree seeing as my knowledge of things that side of life is even less than his.

And that was about all she wrote, apart from some bits and pieces over the weekend. We managed to make our return visit to CarloCarla last night when we invited Manuel and Monia, his significant other (yes, I know it’s a dreadful term but what else can you use that is not either misleading, sexist or twee?) to dinner. We had a very pleasant time; the food was just as good, particularly the pre-dessert of a cherry tiramisu, the service friendly and attentive and the view still without a vista down to LCDDB.

Stephen finished the wardrobe changeover today (my responsibility was chicken and fennel tajine) when he sorted out footwear and socks. Now I know you will be ok with the shoe part, swapping the heavier winter shoes and boots for lighter summer sandals and espadrilles, but socks? Yes, as those long ones that come up to your knees and keep your calves lovely and warm in the colder months are not really the sort of look you want to go for with shorts, even tailored ones. These have given way to a variety of shorter length ones – ghost socks, ankle socks and ankle socks. Why ankle socks twice? Because you need those that stop just below the ankle and those that come part way up the leg. Add to this the necessity for a range of colourways you can see that sorting socks is not a thing to be taken lightly. It is perhaps easier than choosing which pair to put on – though, as the American designer Bill Blass said, "When in doubt, wear red."