Orange crush

15th November 2020

This past week started pretty much as the last one finished, with the weather clear but cold first thing then turning warm in the sunshine by mid-morning, and also another brush with the animal world, albeit a fleeting and distant one.

In the event we were right not to let it give us sleepless nights for whilst the field was somewhat overstocked with sheep when we returned from Tuesday morning shopping, by Wednesday they were all gone. Where they had come from and where they had gone is a mystery, as is why they needed to make an overnight stop where the outskirts of MSP give way to the countryside. At least on a long-haul flight to Australia you get to break your journey in Dubai, and do a spot of duty-free shopping, not something which, to the best of our knowledge, is available as yet at Sigma.

Monday also marked the next step in Stephen’s liqueur experiment. With the first batch (the one made from mele cotogne as opposed the pere cotogne, those of you who have been taking notes will know what I am on about) having completed its month of steeping, it was time to drain off the liquid and add the litre of homemade syrup. This served the dual purpose of making the liqueur more toothsome, and watering down the 99.9º proof alcohol to something less threatening to your stomach lining. This done, it now needs another month to mature before its final bottling, though a further straining might be in order as it is still a little on the cloudy side.

There has also been a bit of a change to my lessons this past week, though thankfully of a positive slant. After a couple of weeks’ hiatus, Laura restarted on Tuesday evening, but by Skype, while Friday was my last lesson with Giacomo. Whilst that at first sounds more on the negative side, if you again check your notes you should see that he came in September because he wanted to brush up his English for his job interviews and it was always hoped that his time with me would be short-lived. The good news, then, is that he has secured a job on a one-year contract in San Marino, which he starts this coming Friday. Given the current situation, finding a job is quite an achievement, and one with a year’s contract is also on the rare side. Naturally, I was suitably self-effacing in taking any credit for his success but I think we all know precisely the importance of the part I played.

It was partway through the week that the weather decided to turn dull and damp to shows its sympathy with the rising numbers of Covid cases here in Italy (though in one of those bizarre mathematical niceties, the serious cases, despite numbering over 3,000, showed as 0% of the overall total). It remained equally grey for most of the rest of the week, only rallying on Friday to give us a sunny afternoon. That, together with a chat yesterday with a new conversation partner, Roberto from Rome, was the only really bright spot of the last couple of days as we battened down the hatches once again on the news over the weekend that Le Marche is moving from yellow to orange.

This puts restrictions on movement outside of your own area except for reasons such as work. Fortunately, it didn’t stop us bobbing up to the Maria Teresa pasta shop this morning for some fine tortellini for lunch, though it did mean we weren’t able to stop for a caffè at Pina on the way past. Bars are only open for a takeaway service and for tobacco goods – because while we all have to make sacrifices for the greater good, that obviously doesn’t include looking after our lungs.