Sweet nothings

20th February 2022

After the eyes having it last week, they’ve taken a bit more of a back seat this time – not that there was a great deal else jostling for attention.

The week did start in celebratory fashion, with Monday being Valentine’s Day and somehow our respective secret admirers managed to sneak in and leave their tokens of esteem for us to open over breakfast. I had a box of very fine Lindor hearts while Stephen’s left him a bouquet of Chupa Chups lollies. This was an elegant sidestepping of the problem when it comes to romantic sweetmeats, for while Stephen will gladly wolf down anything that crawls on the seabed, when it comes to nature’s bounty in the shape of hazelnuts, he balks.

This causes a bit of a problem in the land that created Nutella, as firstly people think that disliking hazelnuts is a form of deviant behaviour and secondly, it is nigh on impossible to find chocolates that do not contain them in one form or another. Even the most innocuous looking confectionery will sneak in a slick of gianduja or kibble of nut when you are least expecting it, so Stephen’s potential Valentine did well to avoid anything of the cocoa family. As for whether sucking on a lolly is the way to his heart, the jury is still out.

The rest of the week might have been an anti-climax if not for a couple of minor events. The first was a letter from NS&I with my temporary password, so I could again access my stash of Premium Bonds, which arrived on Wednesday. Unlike the last exchange between us, from posting my up-to-date signature to receiving the password only took twenty-six days – so well done the postal services for coming at at under a month.

Wednesday was also the day I received a text (the speed of modern technology) from our friendly optician to say that my lenses were ready. We went to pick them up on Thursday evening, when the nice lady serving said that as the lenses were for distance, I would need some glasses for close work. After we had settled on a pair, instead of putting them back in the box and handing them over she removed the labels, cleaned them up with solution and put them in a very jaunty Giorgiottica glasses bag. Imagine how happy we were, not only with the service, but also when she told us that our loyalty points meant there was nothing to pay either for them or the contact lens solution.

It was a bit late to try them out that night, but shopping the next day was an ideal opportunity to test them – though they caused a bit of confusion when Anna, partner of Franc of clothesline fame, looked at me very oddly as our paths crossed at the entrance to Coal (Sigma) and I said hello, the combination of mask and lack of glasses causing momentary confusion. I had a better reception inside, when Pia wanted to know why I had been hiding my beautiful eyes. I demurred appropriately.

For those of you wondering about how young Diego is getting on in his dealings with you know what, I can happily report that we were back to normal on Thursday, with him and his family once again in circulation. It also turned out that Andrea, who has the lesson with him, had also been isolating – presumably not wanting to be outdone. And yes, if you were also wondering, I did come home with some provisions in the shape of sugo di cinghiale, so normal service had very much resumed.

Yesterday was a bit of a red letter day as we went to dinner in Macerata, having been invited by Alessio and Oscar, Alessio being the brother of Computer Luca who was also there. I tried to remember the last time we’d been to someone’s house to eat. There was Marco and Maddalena the other week, but that doesn’t really count because we have popped in there for coffee or such like several times, and it was all very casual. This, while a lovely, relaxed evening, with many fine things to eat – though oddly the plate of bruschetta with speck and pear wasn’t really improved by Stephen toppling a bottle of water over it – constitutes our first proper grown-up outing for some time. And we may be invited to some more, if we can bring Stephen’s motor skills up to the required standard for polite company.