Quote me on that

20th June 2021

After all the recent excitement (?) you will be relieved to know that these past seven days have been of a more pedestrian bent allowing us to catch a bit of a breather– if you ignore the rising temperature, that is.

It was matters automotive that again dominated at the start of the week as following the exhaustive revisioni the previous Thursday it was time to sort out the insurance on the Freeclimber. We had thought that this year it would plummet, now that it had reached its 30th year, and were a little surprised when the man who has sorted it out that side of life called the week before to say he was able to come round to take our filthy lucre in exchange for another year’s coverage and that it would be €30 cheaper than before.

This obviously puzzled us, a reduction of less than 5% not being the life-changing event we had been expecting, until on checking the car’s documentation Stephen discovered that we had been a little previous in our celebrations and the Freeclimber would not become pensionable for another two years. Still anxious to save a few more centesimi, he called our insurance friend in Montegranaro, with whom we do the Panda, to see what he could offer us – which is why, on Tuesday morning after Pina and Conad, we hot-footed it over there to his new offices conveniently situated next to our bank so I could pop in to draw however many thousands we might need.

We duly kept our distance, well masked, outside the door waiting our turn, which when it came meant Stephen went in on his own as there were only three clients allowed in at a time, and two ladies were already well ensconced on a couple of chairs waiting for the mother of one of them to turn up, who despite her phoning repeatedly was proving somewhat enigmatic.

A quick chat with the wonderful fierce lady of the sequined embellished tops behind the counter soon showed that they were able to get a significantly better deal for us – even if still somewhat above the elusive peppercorn figure we’d blithely previously expected– so taking advantage of the lady with the mobile wandering out yet on another call, I slipped in beside Stephen while he signed the documents (17 signatures I think it was) and I handed over the cash.

We also took the opportunity to pay for the road tax on the two cars, which falls due in April but we always end up settling in July with an added premium for late payment. Last year, to avoid this, I set a reminder on my Todoist app for the start of May to remind us (May because, being Italy, the fierce lady said there was no point trying to do it in April as the system would not be ready). However, for some reason when the reminder appeared we still didn’t get round to sorting it out – but as we are in a no blame environment I won’t apportion responsibility in any particular direction, though I’m a bit confused about what Stephen meant when he said he’d look into it. Fortunately, the middle of June was still within the period of grace, making us a notional €6 to the good. We will try not to let it change our lives.

And really that is about it for the week. There was a bit of a surprise on Friday morning when we woke to overcast skies which, in defiance of the weather forecast, had turned to rain by the time we set out for breakfast. This, together with the temperature dropping to a paltry 19C, was a temporary blip as the sun returned by lunchtime along with things decidedly hotting up in compensation. Saturday morning it hit 30C well before lunchtime and today it looks like it will very much be still hovering around 28C when we go to bed. What else is there to do in such conditions other than take things easy – oh, and make chutney as well.

On Friday afternoon Stephen added to our growing ways of how to make use of a glut of courgettes (frozen au naturel, chopped and fried off with garlic and oil and then frozen, added to salads, mixed with mozzarella – don’t tell the doctor – in a bake with tomato sauce…) when he whipped up a batch of Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall’s Indian inspired preserve. This was a little more complicated, requiring the making of an onion, garlic, chilli and ginger paste as well as dry roasting cumin and coriander seeds, but if the aroma of the finished product is anything to go by then it will be well worth the trouble – or, should I say, Stephen’s trouble.