Stepping out

10th November 2024

We had a propitious start to the week, at least where the house was concerned. Any fears we had that the matter had been consigned to the back burner were eased when Stephen received a message on Tuesday from Irene saying that Fabrizio, the geologist, intended coming the next morning along with another man to check out the lay of the land.

The time slated was ten o’clock, and as Stephen would be at work, and as they were only coming to look and not discuss, the responsibility was to fall on my shoulders, there being no cause for Stephen to slip away from work. I was mentally preparing myself to pick them up at the due time when Irene messaged back to say that they would walk down to the house as they wanted to inspect the condition of the road. I was told, however, that I might be required to ferry them back, or at least offer.

I made sure that Harry was up on the terrazzo with the gate shut well before ten to make sure that (a) he didn’t bother them or (b) he didn’t blind side them and make his escape. I also thought, that though I kept checking out of the window to see if Fabrizio and friend were hoving into view, that he would bark the moment he saw them. That it was heading towards quarter past and there was no sign of the pair didn’t surprise me; what did, when I went onto the terrazzo to shake out a cloth or two, was hearing someone call, “Ciao Stephen.”

Looking down, it was Fabrizio, who had come out of the gate at the other side of the house by the well. Harry, for some reason, must have chosen this as the first time in his life not to bark at anything moving within a hundred metres of the house, and indeed continued to sprawl on his bed while I shouted a hasty introduction and scurried downstairs. I shook hands with Fabrizio, who was very jolly about the whole thing, and followed him round the side of the house where the other man was inspecting the well. Did we use it, he asked. No, I replied, waiting for the usual sharp intake of breath and an admonishment about paying for water when we had some free on tap – or rather not, that being the difficulty – but he just nodded and filed that piece of information.

They went on to explain that they would need to take down that part of the fence and chop down the sapling (not planted but growing organically somehow), and I said that was fine. I offered to run them back but they declined, and as they were about to leave the other man spied Mario and Luigi’s transit van which was parked up at the side of the lane while they were off in their tractors preparing the field for sowing. “Does the van get up the hill?” he asked, and when I said yes, “In reverse?” he wanted to know. He seemed surprised when I said no. “So it turns round and goes up normally”, he persisted. I assured him that that was the case, though, I said, as a get out clause, it does depend on the driver. This tickled Fabrizio, and they went off with him chuckling about bad drivers and good drivers. Let’s hope he finds it as amusing when he gets stuck.

Stephen had a quick jaunt to Milan with Bertrando at the end of the week, leaving on Thursday morning and returning the following afternoon. It seemed like they were cutting it fine for the meeting, but as it was delayed due to the previous one overrunning, they had a bit of a breathing space before they were on. I think things went ok, or as ok as these things can go. He did have a bit of free time on Friday morning whilst the boss was seeing to other important stuff, so was able to send me a variety of photos on WhatsApp of the range of Christmas paraphernalia now available in the metropolis. He didn’t purchase, but he did come home with a cosy grey jumper for me so his time was well spent.

It was again a weekend mainly spent at home, with pizza and TV on Friday night (including the current series of Emily in Paris which is even more ridiculously unbelievable than the last one, but with all its success you’d have thought the budget would have stretched to some decent conditioner for Lily Collins’ hair – maybe it’s just too hard to shoehorn it in as product placement) and jobs around the house yesterday. We did have our first fire of the season in the evening, and not just so we could have baked potatoes with our sausage casserole.

We managed some time away this morning, and if you were concerned that we might be running out of washing liquid you can stop worrying as we made a much needed to trip to Corridomnia and Risparmio Casa to load up a trolley with household basics. Some chews for Harry from the pet shop and a new pair of jogging bottoms for me (it’s ok, I’m not going to pound the street, joggers are part of my morning attire when putting the things in the trolley to good use) and then it was lunch at DiverXo.

All this was, though, just a warm-up for the main event. The black box we ordered last Sunday arrived in a couple of days, but had to wait till today before Stephen could install it. It didn’t take long for him to unplug everything in the dressing room and then plug it all back in the new housing. I have to say it all looks considerably neater, but don’t just take my word for it. In a first for these pages I am including before and after photos so you can judge for yourself – and please feel free to follow our example should you so wish. After all, we, like the BBC, are here to inform, educate and entertain.