Journeymen

17th August 2025

So, Monday and Stephen’s first day of his holidays. He did, as anticipated, have to call in at the office to deal with a pair of boots that needed accessorising. Apparently only Stephen can do it, which I took to mean that only Stephen can be trusted to do it properly. Anyway, he brought them home rather than sit in splendid isolation completing the task and had them finished in no time.

The Panda also came home on Monday, Alessandro living up to his promise in not only taking a look at it but sorting the problem. I’m not sure if it was him, his father or a joint effort but it was Ivano who took Stephen on a guided tour of the engine when we arrived to point out the problem and to have a bit of a (in the circumstances, forgivable) moan. Forgivable because when opening up a bonnet you might expect to have to deal with knotty mechanical issues but probably not with an expired mouse, supine in its nest.   

That, it seems, was the root of the problem, or rather its desire to nibble on the wires. Those with a long memory may recall that we’ve been here before, so I guess we’ve done well to have gone so long rodent free, at least in the Panda. We do, of course, need to take action, and (sorry for this) poison is probably the most efficient method. We’re a bit reluctant to go there, considering not only Harry and Peggy but also the amount and variety of wildlife in the area, but it could be preferable to the engine blowing up on the autostrada.  Stephen and Ivano did take a look at the Renegade, which was parked outside. That, for whatever reason, was

nibble-free, just a few footprints… so far.

The good news on Wednesday was the arrival of my new passport, or rather its collection, just over four weeks after I’d completed the online form and around three weeks after I posted the supporting documents, so not bad. I’d received notification the day before that it was to be delivered by DHL, which would have been fine but we knew the courier wouldn’t be able to find the house and there could have been a long telephone negotiation about where to rendezvous. So, for general easiness, I opted to change, online, the instructions to collect from the nearest office to us, in the industrial park just outside Civitanova.

We arrived just after three when it opened, signed for and collected the envelope, then headed to Cuore Adriatico to make the journey more worthwhile. Stephen was in search of a new stand for the sun umbrella to replace the leaking one. We found a suitable replacement, round and black, at Obi, and then, to make the journey to Obi more worthwhile went into the main building to get a few bits and pieces from Conad –not, you’ll be surprised to hear, coffee, ragu or gin. We did, amongst other things, buy two bottles of sesame oil, which has been giving a warm and nutty edge to our summer salads – but don’t tell the locals.

We continued gallivanting on Thursday morning when we went to Porto San Giorgio to take a stroll round the market – once we’d found a place to park, not doing too badly in the end, only an eight-minute route march away. We managed to bear up in the heat, taking in most of the stalls, stopping to buy a basil plant from one and a pack of ankle socks, (one white, one black, one grey) from another, and to chat with bff Manuel and his significant other, Monia, whom we met along the way. We also popped into the nice shop that stocks nice things for the home where Stephen bought me an early birthday present of two Guzzini snack bowls he’s been eyeing up online, but which looked even more alluring in the flesh with a 30% discount.

That was almost enough gadding about for one week, though not quite the end as Friday and Saturday showed. Friday was, of course, Ferragosto, which means the whole Italy comes to a virtual standstill, unless you work in hospitality, and lunches last six hours. We, as usual, spent most of the day at home but conceded a little to the holiday spirit and had dinner at CarloCarla, along with a smattering of some other civilised people.

The festa meant slight alterations to our usual routine, shifting haircuts and shopping to yesterday morning. That wasn’t enough to qualify as gadding, which was of a more virtual nature when we spent an hour or so after lunch, now I have my bright shiny new passport, booking a holiday in October. We’ve plumped for Malta this time, partly for the weather, partly because the flight time is good, partly because we can fly from Perugia, which is much more convenient than Rome (though parking looks like it might need some investigation) and partly because we had such a wonderful holiday the last time we were there (two-centre, Gozo and Valetta).

We’ve booked for ten nights, and it was a bit of a challenge finding a hotel, not because of a lack but because, not being over-blessed with beaches, our images of holiday hotels with sea views, an expanse of sun beds and choice of swimming pools had to be tempered. A lot of the places had their pools on the roof, with views of the surrounding buildings, and the restaurants were a bit Pizza Express – which is ok if you want to go to Pizza Express but not if you’re looking for romantic dining on starlit balmy nights.

Anyway, we finally hit on one which might be a bit on the big side for us (you know how we like our exclusivity), but looking at it positively, while there is no beach, the location on a rocky promontory does have an open vista to the front, there are a number of pools of reasonable size, in- and outdoor, a choice of restaurants and, from the pictures, an abundance of sunbeds. And hopefully, when we arrive and check in, they’ll realise who we are.