Shining bright

11th August 2024

I start this week with the very sad news that we said goodbye to our darling Bella on Tuesday morning. Age finally caught up with her and while she had been managing to potter around the garden and eat her food if we spiced it up with some little extras, something changed between Sunday evening and Monday morning.

She had very little energy and no interest in food, not even taking her after dinner Dentastix for the first time ever, one of her favourite moments of the day. By bedtime she was unable to support herself and was just lying on her side. We made sure she was as comfortable as possible overnight and then took her to the vet’s as soon as we could on Tuesday morning.

He checked her heart, which he said was still strong but everything else was failing, which we knew. We aren’t sure exactly how old she was, 16 or 17 at the least, but sometimes it seemed that she would go on and on. That, though, was not going to be and when the time came for the inevitable the vet was wonderful, treating her with dignity and kindness. She slipped away peacefully, with no discomfort and no distress and for that we are very grateful, as we are for the many years of love we shared.

There was a picture on the wall outside the vet’s consulting room, a simple one of a quote by the French writer, Anatole France, which translates from the Italian wording as: “Until you have loved an animal, a part of your soul will always remain without light.” Thank you Manchester Dogs Home, where we were lucky enough to find her all those years ago, a little lost and very bewildered, and thank you Bella for flooding our lives with your radiance.

Turning to other matters, there was some good news on Monday when Manuel phoned to tell Stephen, who had been having more than a little trouble in sourcing this year’s wood, that the man who last year threw a wobbler and vowed never to darken our doorstep again said he was ok supplying us and would bring it on Thursday morning at 8 a.m. – and even better, the price was €2 a quintale cheaper.

He did make the same stipulation as last year: to have Mario and Luigi standing by with the tractor in case of emergency. They, bless them, readily agreed when Stephen asked, and late afternoon on Wednesday I passed Luigi gingerly coming down the steepest incline as I was walking Harry up it. He was on his way to collect the tractor from the barn next to LCDDB, which he then left just off the road at a midpoint in the field opposite.

In the event, they weren’t needed. The man was a bit early, before Mario and Luigi were at their stations, and was accompanied by his “lad”, who was driving – not his son, but the young man who is going to take over the business as the man himself is retiring. They arrived, they shed the load (this time well into the side leaving plenty of room for the cars, which Stephen had moved beforehand, to get past), the man exchanged pleasantries with Stephen (imagine!), then, with “the lad” driving, left in a stately manner with no apparent trouble and no help from the Mogliani brothers.

Elsewhere, the last couple of days at work for Stephen became a little complicated when, on Wednesday, Bertrando decided to contract Covid, so while he worked from home Stephen and Cecilia tied up all the loose ends. He sort of started his holiday on Thursday afternoon, vacating the office so the boss could go and see to some things, but then disappeared for a few hours on Friday afternoon to sort out samples or deliveries or something that no one else could do.

There has been some action on the house front this week, albeit secretarial in nature. Wednesday afternoon Irene sent the relevant forms for me to sign as householder, both for the Comune to authorise the work and to give her permission to obtain copies of any documents they hold relating to the property (good luck on that one). I printed these off, as well as the form to take to the Post Office to pay the associated fee, which Stephen did on Thursday morning. We scanned them in and sent them back to her and she called in the evening to say she would be taking them to the Comune the next day to get what information she could. We fully expect that there will now be something of a hiatus, the bulk of Italy being on holiday till further notice (i.e. the beginning of September).

Being on holiday, we set the alarm for 6.00 on Friday like you do when you have no work to go to, so Stephen could make a start on shifting the wood while it was vaguely cool (I, if you were wondering, got on with the everyday tasks, leaving him free to be the man of the house) though he hit a bit of a snag with the wheelbarrow. It’s only really used for this job, and maybe the occasional spot of heavy lifting, but for the past two or three years the inflatable tyre has needed a lot of just that, inflating. Friday morning it was worse than ever and was becoming a drag rather than a help and so we did what we should have done three years ago: get a new one from Giordano the Ferramenta. Result – a much easier time for Stephen when he resumed the task on Saturday morning, and while he didn’t exactly fly through the job – there being too much wood for that – it certainly made it much smoother.

Friday evening we met up with Marco and Maddalena for dinner at Pomod’oro to celebrate the start of the holidays proper. Other places had been mooted beforehand, but the old favourite was settled on as it was convenient; there was no problem with taking Mia, especially as we were again under the gazebo on the grass, and we knew what we were getting – except there were a couple of surprises. The first was when Marco sneaked off to order spritz all round (Aperol for Stephen and Maddalena, Campari for me and him – no, I don’t know why) and the second was when we opted for the summer antipasto misto, a lighter selection than the more traditional one.

Yesterday after another wood shifting session Stephen tidied himself up and headed out for his nail appointment before the nice lady that does him went on holiday. It all took a little longer than I anticipated, mainly because after he’d had his manicure and nails varnished, he made a detour to buy a couple of beach towels and a pair of swim shorts at the sale in OVS, a new plant for me to replace the anniversary orchids that gave up the ghost somewhat quickly (they don’t like the heat, the man said) and one of Totò’s fine crostatas (cherry).

There was no beach walk this morning, partly because of ongoing wood work (almost there) and partly because the last couple of times Stephen has left the sands limping so giving his ankle a rest seemed a good idea. We did venture out this evening so we didn’t look like a pair of sad sacks spending a sunny day entirely at home. I suggested we go to Chupito il Chiosco and take Harry with us to give him an outing and not to leave him at home on his own all the time. He was very excited to walk up the path through the park when we got there, but unfortunately his thrill at being somewhere new was short lived. It was closed. It only opens Wednesday to Saturday.

Where else could we try, we wondered, and Stephen suggested Totò, for the second time in as many days, at least for him, so it was back in the car for Harry and we drove the twenty minutes to our favourite bakery. It was closed. Yesterday must have been their last day before the holidays. We took this as a sign, cut our losses, and drove home. So much for giving Harry a treat – a couple of minutes sniffing trees and bushes and forty minutes sitting on the back seat of the car. On the bright side, next time we make a move to go out, instead of looking at us pathetically he’ll realise he’s not actually missing anything and trot happily to his basket.