Whispering grass

11th June 2023

Stephen’s success with the free celeriac should have marked the end of plant buying for this season, so why did he arrive for lunch on Monday with some more? Because he had miscounted how many tomatoes plants he needed and had stopped off on his way home to make up the shortfall.

These had to bide their time before being bedded into the orto, however, as the weather continued to be reliably unreliable. Well, unreliable in the sense that we haven’t been able to guarantee a rain-free day, even when one is forecast, as it settled into a pattern of sunny mornings, with clouds gathering around lunchtime, before turning dark in the early afternoon and treating us to rain a little while later on most days.

Monday wasn’t too bad, but the rainstorm that hit us on Tuesday was of the fiercer variety. Our road, which has stood up very well since the last work was carried out, quite a while ago now, took a battering, with a couple of channels opening up. These were aggravated further by another heavy rainfall on Thursday. Part of the reason is that the gulleys at the side of the road, which the last work opened up, have been covered over by undergrowth. This was encroaching to such an extent that when my student, Andrea, arrived for his lesson he jokingly said that he expected to see lions peering out.

He wasn’t surprised by any big game, but he was a little surprised to learn that it isn’t a private road, but one whose upkeep falls under the jurisdiction of the council. Speaking of which, when I was heading to the car on Friday morning with the shopping (Stephen had had to make a quick exit stage right after his haircut as work demands were calling, so I was left to deal with this particular responsibility all on my own), I greeted Luigi, who was just ahead of me. He said hello and was about to move on, when he paused and asked if we had been to the Comune about the road. I said we hadn’t, but we would make a point of doing so.

We didn’t need to, for whether because Luigi took matters into his own hands or it was just a coincidence, Harry barking on the terrazzo later that morning alerted me to the arrival of the Comune’s workman, complete with excavator donned out in impressive rotary blades, who executed a fetching short back and sides on the briers and grasses so that when I sailed up the road after lunch to go to my lesson it wasn’t to the accompaniment of all the car sensors beeping madly.

A whole day without rain on Wednesday and a not bad forecast for the weekend inspired Stephen to bring up the outside chairs on Friday morning. Not that he was able to christen them, for while he was home before the unheard time of 6.00 on Thursday evening, citing Bertrando and he having had enough for one day, he more than made up for it the following day when it was gone 8.30 before he was home – but you’ll be pleased to know that they had managed to complete all the samples.

He was busy again yesterday morning (though I don’t want you to think I was just lying back on the chaise longue eating peeled grapes) when he took the Renegade to Giove in Rapagnano for its equivalent of the MOT. It passed, as it should have, seeing as it was serviced just before our holiday, then he stopped off on his way back at bff Manuel’s for a summit meeting. The mayor happened to call in while he was there, and in the course of the general conversation he gave Stephen little hope of any work being carried out on the road, due to the chaos at the Comune. He said it as though Stephen would know what it was all about, but we are in the dark, and need someone in the know to shine a light for us. I would say I will let you know as soon as we do, but given the general nature of these things, it’s probably much more interesting to speculate wildly.

As for today, it was that time again when we hit Corridomnia on a Sunday morning to stock up on household basics before stocking up ourselves on sushi and dim sum at Diverxo, with time for a bit of birthday present buying in between. It was then home for Stephen to do some tidying up at the front of the house while I got on with catching up on correspondence before, for the first time this year, the sun being good enough to hang around all day, we were able to relax together, sitting on the terrazzo in the early evening – though given the weather forecast for the coming week, I wouldn’t hold your breath till we get a chance to do it again.