Short change

1st June 2025

We had hoped that last weekend’s sunshine promised a change to more consistently seasonal (i.e. clear, dry and warm, if not hot) weather. Not so – but it looks like June might make up for it.

Having said that, Monday and Tuesday, at least until after lunch, were sunny – which is probably one of the reasons why our friendly black snake was basking on the steps just before midday on Tuesday – or rather it was till Harry and Peggy went down them excited for our walk only to be pulled up short when they drew level with our lodger. Peggy was more perplexed than anything, while Harry went into his usual mode of barking loudly and lunging. I didn’t panic… ok, I did, and being at the top on the terrazzo I followed my first instinct which was to yell at the top of my voice at him.

Whether it was that or not being 100% convinced he should be getting his chops round a black scaly creature, his moment of indecision allowed the snake to slither down the two or three steps remaining and disappear into a crack at the bottom. We’re not sure if that is where it lives, and as I’ve said before these black snakes look big and formidable but they aren’t poisonous and are very shy, but it did reappear at the end of the week. This time it was me who got the shock when I started down the steps this morning and was surprised by a rustling below me. The snake must have learned from his experience as I was just able to catch sight of him once again disappearing into his crack.

As for Stephen, he had a busy start to the week when he was at work all day on Monday, not making it home for lunch, as he had to chaperone a visiting professor around.  There wasn’t anything academic involved, to his relief, as the visitor is a professor in fashion, specialising in handbags (who knew?) in Florence, but he’d come to see Stephen et al to check on the last for the shoes he wants them to make to go with his clothing line.

Tuesday, after its visit to the garage last week, Stephen took the Panda to the revisione test place in Rapagnano – only for the man to send him away as he refused to do it. The MOT is not due till next month (all of five days away) and despite Stephen pleading with him that really he was ok for it to be done early, the man wouldn’t let him waste a month’s money. I suppose we should be grateful.

Peggy was back at the vet’s on Thursday morning when again it was the competent young woman rather than Francesco. She administered the annual antiparasitic vaccine as well as a six-month worming one, and that was all fine, but we hit a snag when we asked her about sterilisation. I won’t go into the details as Peggy is a lady and would not like things that side of life discussed on these pages, but we could be waiting up to six months before it can be done – which seems a long time, especially as the lady at the kennels said we should have it done as soon as possible.

Thursday was also the first time we had our evening merenda on the terrazzo, the weather keeping dry despite some threatening clouds earlier in the afternoon, and the shift outside looks like it’s now fixed as someone has finally decided to flick the switch to summer. The Comune must think so too, as finally, on Friday, they sent their man to mow the sides of the road, making them all neat and trim again. We had feared that another couple of weeks would see the brambles meeting in the middle, but now we can sail up and down to our heart’s content without fear of needing a paint job. As for matters sartorial, with temperatures over the weekend hovering around 30° and forecast to continue, for the foreseeable future, my move into shorts as daily go-to wear was a no-brainer.

After “forgetting” last weekend, Stephen felt honour bound to fulfil his promise to Luigi to take a look at the country house that his acquaintance is selling and duly turned up at the Mogliani house at 10, as arranged. The only hiccup was that it was Luigi’s turn to forget. “He’s in Civitanova,” said Mario’s wife. All was not lost, however, as she called her husband to say the English was here for Luigi and Mario said he would go with him. Maybe, though, he wished he’d done the driving when shouting advice to Stephen about avoiding the motley pack of somewhat physically challenged cyclists of a certain age they had to overtake on the way.

As for the house, this was the other side of MSP, arrived at by hanging a right on the way to Rapagnano and keeping going. The son of the family currently holed up there was a bit taken aback when they turned up but let them have a good nosey around. Stephen’s report was that maybe it was a bit overpriced at a rumoured €200,000 as the house itself, though of ample size, was in need of some updating (depending on you viewpoint and lifestyle, admittedly). It did, though, come with an awful lot of land, including trees of various natures and with an area for pigs – not to mention the five cows you could keep on the ground floor. We won’t be making an offer ourselves, but if you’re interested we’re happy to put in a good word for you. After all, the view would be fabulous, if not for the trees.

It was out again in the evening, both of us this time, for dinner at CarloCarla where short sleeves were the order of the day, appropriate attire for sitting by the open sliding doors of the restaurant and watching the sun set on an, at last, beautifully warm evening. Carla, when we arrived, after taking a few minutes to inspect their new salt-water swimming pool, apologised as they had a party of 18 booked – not that it would get rowdy but you know how Stephen regards it being his personal private dining space.

They were, she said, a group of cyclists. “Oh I saw them this morning,” said Stephen, and the penny dropped with us that they must be for the Secret Marche cycling tours as mentioned previously in these pages, three of whom we had wondered about when we saw them in Bar del Borgo the previous morning having breakfast and causing me some concern as neither of the men should have been undertaking any sort of physical exertion, let alone in 30° heat.

When the group amassed a little while later, they all seemed to be present and correct, much to my relief. Mind you, one couple did say that they had been to the beach for the day, which seemed a much wiser option, and several of the others, as they happily shared with the room, had motorised bicycles – sounds like the sort of cycling holiday I could hack, if I had any inkling of an interest.

We might not have got on our bikes today (the group were heading for Servigliano, according to one of the announcements the party guide peppered the previous evening with; “We’ll have lunch near the restaurant,” she said, confirming my belief that it really wasn’t my sort of thing – all that way to stand, nibbling a sandwich and an energy bar and looking at what might have been) but we have accomplished other things. Stephen, you may not be surprised to learn, spent the afternoon photographing and listing more things to sell on Vinted. Well, he had to find something to do. His plans of cutting the grass and strimming the banking, were scuppered when he found that he had no petrol mix for the mower – the red line that he took to be the level of the miscella was just that, a red line on the container. I guess in this heat, you have to draw the line somewhere.

And in case you were wondering...