Make mine a large one

29th September 2024

Lots of bits and pieces of stuff have kept us nicely occupied this past week, so prepare yourself to be entranced by the minutiae that make up our lives.

It started on Monday morning with a return trip to the nice vet to complete Harry’s round of injections, meaning after a week away Stephen’s return to the office was delayed a little. Fortunately, though the appointment was for 10.00, there was no one ahead of us when we arrived a little ahead of schedule so we were seen straight away.

While we were there, the vet mentioned a new parasite treatment, an annual injection rather than a solution applied to the skin. The one we use, Advantix, is applied monthly but given what might be lurking in the grass and undergrowth around here, during spring and summer when it all gets a bit out of hand, we like, though Harry doesn’t, to throw in a shower now and again with an anti-parasite shampoo. As we still have three pipettes of the Advantix, we said we would wait till they had been used, but so eager was the vet that he made us an appointment for January to have it done. The annual injection would be more convenient, I guess, but it would also come in at almost double the cost – which is fine if it is more effective.

Maddalena thought not. We mentioned it when we went in the evening for spumante and cake, and a very nice shirt for me, just right for my holidays; anyone would think it was my birthday. We mentioned it and she instantly dismissed the idea, saying it wasn’t any good. Not that she was able to back this up with any evidence, either solid or hearsay - not even the apocryphal woman from Francavilla who told dire tales of the kennels where Bella and Harry went last year and were very happy. Everything considered, I think we might go with the vet’s opinion.

There was a step forward on Tuesday with the electrician, who had changed his day from the one agreed last week, when he progressed from calling Stephen Marco to calling him Steve. Still not right, but much nearer. As for the work, that was not without its blips, as was to be expected. He could only fit two new plugs, not three, in the dressing room, given the setup of the wiring, and there was no new bedroom switch as he had forgotten about that altogether – but he will pass by next week to do it, he said after taking his money.

Tuesday also saw a significant development in both the history of the postal system and the ramifications of the July elections when I picked up from our post box my card notifying me that my postal vote would be sent out on or about 19th June. We thought Stephen’s might have broken the record when it arrived the other week, but three months and counting is really something special.

I had a bit of a shock on Wednesday morning while I was minding my own business getting on with some household chores when I was surprised by a sudden almighty bang reverberating round the room. It can’t have been a car backfiring so that left only one possibility, and while we are used to the distressing sound of distant gun shots at this time of year, this hunter, who was standing across the lane in the opposite field not fifty yards away, was a bit too close for comfort. When I went outside he was lowering his gun and seemed to have been firing at the banking and not at Mario, who was going up and down the road collecting hay from the barn, and he seemed oblivious to me shouting NO! at him (it was the best I could come up with, not knowing the Italian for “What do you think you’re doing you stupid, murdering cretin?”). He wandered away nonchalantly, leaving me to wonder if there was any law about firing a gun within spitting distance of a residence.

More fun was the arrival at lunchtime of the many and various pieces that are to make up our new wardrobes. Fortunately they had not come to any harm during the flood (though one of the two very jolly deliverymen said, while unloading, that the store had only just reopened that day) and they were stored safely in the lumber room. And quite a pile they made, with some twenty large flat packs, presumably containing doors and back and side panels, smaller packs to make up the drawers, two sliding baskets and two large bags containing all the little bits and pieces required for assemblage – 82 pieces in total according to the delivery note.

That will be done by Sergio, the man from TaskRabbit, who messaged us on Thursday to make contact and for us to send him copies of the documents we got from Ikea, presumably to prepare himself for the job. He is due to be here at 8 tomorrow morning, and as he messaged again earlier to check that everything was still ok (yes) we should see him bright and early. This is just as well, as the information from Ikea gives an assemblage time of 15.5 hours; we shall have to hope he is faster than that…

Some time was given over to a spot of homework on Thursday evening when Stephen, having had to pick up a box of insoles brought them home rather than go back to the office with them, where he set about putting them, in pairs, in separate plastic bags with a sticker showing the size. Who’d have thought the world of high fashion could be so glamourous, so naturally I couldn’t resist joining in and helping.

After hitting 30° on Friday, the weekend has been a bit cooler, and intermittently rainy yesterday, which was just as well as it turned out to involve quite a lot of physical exertion. Yesterday afternoon we emptied everything out of the two remaining wardrobes in the dressing room, hanging the clothes on two racks in the back room, before dismantling one and taking the pieces downstairs. This afternoon we dismantled the other and removed it to the lumber room and then spent an hour shifting all the wardrobe pieces up into the now empty (and refreshed as Stephen had done a quick paint job where the walls needed it) dressing room.

It was quite a bit of work: firstly having to manoeuvre the large packages round the gate and up the stairs, and then to manoeuvre them through the vestibule into the room, and secondly because the ten containing the doors, and which were the last we moved, were very heavy. Our arms, not mention our backs, definitely felt it by the time everything was upstairs, but now all is in place ready for Sergio in the morning.

We did find time for fun and relaxation, though, as yesterday evening was the third manifestation of Divina Harmonia, the event where various small, independent cantinas set up stall and you can go round tasting the wines they have to offer, and maybe buy a bottle if you are feeling flush. We enjoyed the first one but missed last year as we were in Pesaro, so it was interesting to see how much it had developed. There were more wine makers present, and more options for food (we had a very pleasing smoked tuna panino each from one of the food trucks) and the village was heaving.

As for the vino, as before you bought a number of tickets and handed one over in exchange for a glass of wine, but I was a little puzzled by the buying options. You could buy one ticket, plus goblet and carrying bib to put it in, or seven tickets plus glass, but if you opted for five tickets there was no glass or bib. If someone could explain this logic, I’d be grateful. We opted for a mix and match approach, selecting the one ticket and seven ticket options, making four glasses each – a reasonable amount, we thought – and we did sort of ok in the potluck of choosing which to try.

We started with a white, which was just about ok, then a rose, which was very nice, and we would have bought a bottle but that particular cantina wasn’t selling any; rather you would have to visit their vineyard somewhere between Fermo and Porto San Giorgio. Watch this space. The red we had was ok to good, then after coffee in Pina we plumped for an old favourite, Lorese vino cotto. The man was very jolly and seemed to remember us from two years ago. We said that we didn’t need buy any as we had purchased at the festa in Loro in August, but were happy to try a sample of his ten-year aged cotto. Was it any good? I’ll let you decide when I tell you that despite having a wine rack groaning with digestivi (see previous entries) we did splash out a silly amount (though as with most things silly is as silly sees) on a half-litre bottle, redolent of heavy raisin vibes, to keep for Christmas – and the nice man threw in a packet of their very fine vino cotto biscuits, so really it’s a win-win, or if you prefer, a wine-wine situation.