Ventiquattro settimani (24 weeks): Permissions, potions, pallets, progress, pets, packing and pretending to be asleep

Juliet writes:

Cara amici,

Where to begin?

Perhaps I should start with an apology for not having the time to keep you up-to-date until now…
It’s been getting very busy here, in between drinking and sleeping.

First and foremost, Peter received his citizen ID card today (whoop, whoop!) and I pick mine up tomorrow. The significance of this is more enormous than a pregnant hippopotamus… it means that we can now submit our second lot of permissions to the Mountain Comune (we are in the Garfagnana – a protected national parkland – so their approval is needed for all works).

It also means that we can register for national health insurance and thus sign up with doctors and dentists. Which is quite a relief because in the last week alone, P had an allergic reaction to a wasp sting and ended up with a hand like a blown up marigold glove for 4 days and I had food poisoning! We had to rely on ‘China’ – an ancient and very popular remedy that was first concocted/patented by the Fivizzano pharmacist in 1884 and is still going strong as a cure-all for absolutely everything. I think that you can even clean ovens with it and possibly use in nuclear power stations. Or at least you should be able to judging by the taste. Anyway, we are now fully-fit again, at least while I write this :o)

We also had our first house delivery… well, almost. There was no tail-lift on the vehicle, despite been promised such, and the young driver was rather unhelpful – much shoulder shrugging, head shaking, cries of ‘Madonna!’ and futile calls on mobile. So P, Jim and I were forced by hand to lift, lug and carefully place in our house 400 slate floor tiles (they are heavier than you think), an entire flat-pack kitchen and all the oak planks for the lounge and library. We only blocked the road for 20 minutes though (apparently you are allowed to block any minor road for up to 30 minutes without permission) because our wonderful electrician - who we had also blocked from his return home – leapt to action and kindly helped us with the lugging.

The most expensive kitchen unit (could it be any other?) is badly chipped, all the pelmets and kickboards are missing and several slate tiles are chipped. Apart from this, tutto bene! At least we have several weeks before anything is close to being installed/fitted, so this gives us ample time to shout at people on the phone. And it is exciting to have cardboard boxes in the house as we are a bit weary of dust, cement and general muck.

After this minor fiasco, the lovely electrician (Stefano), who bears an uncanny resemblance to Peter’s nephew Robin, gave us a very reasonable quote for the works. So at last we have one official employee – hoorah!

We are meeting with Christian (our geometra – strange Italian thing - cross between an architect and surveyor) this week to discuss the finer details of plumbing systems and septic tanks. What fun. Once this is submitted and approved, we can finally get quotes from the plumber/builder and hopefully start work.

That February moving in date is looking a bit far-fetched :o)

Weed continues to disown us, only coming home for food and hissing. We are very upset but hope that time (or at least another move) will bring her round again. Tumble has become much more affectionate and even more bonkers – leaping at absolutely anything, even things that don’t actually exist.

We are moving in two weeks’ time to our posher rental place – that nunnery around the corner from Lecci. We are very excited about it, although after 6 months here, we have accumulated so many possessions we may need another removal lorry. (Advanced warning: we have no idea about internet there yet so may be silent again for a while).

As I think I said before, September has been the busiest month for guests. We have enjoyed the distraction from floor digging and angle-grinding immensely. First up was the Royal Visit from The Broshes. Far too short a time (3 days) but we managed to cram in lots of things, including the Tango festival (we only saw one show with 7 Argentinian pairings, but it was absolutely breathtaking). Ella and Maia have really grown and it was wonderful being able to spend time with them and heaven catching up with Clare and Asi. We miss them desperately.

Second gang was Simon and Sarah – our soon-to-be Italian neighbours who are building a house 30 mins from us in Bagnone and wanted a place to stay while they prodded the building team. It was great fun seeing them, talking about Italian life, getting some tips from a couple who have lived here before, plotting work (Simon is a photographer who I have worked with before) and generally having a good giggle over pizza and several limoncelli. We really look forward to them renting here in November.

Third – and possibly most eventful – was a flying visit from my London-based Kiwi friend and ex-partner-in-crime at Transport for London, Allan Ramsay, plus his missus Heather. Walking them round the garden at Lecci was inspiring as Al is used to lots of land back home and reassured us that it was all manageable. (Thanks Rambo!) Sadly, they only stayed one night en route to seeing his sister/bro-in-law who were holidaying in the posh resort of Santa Margherita in Liguria (quieter version of Portofino). We joined them there for a fantastic evening of revelry. Unfortunately, our beloved Shaguar – which has been overheating for weeks – decided to do a pretty good impression of Ol’ Faithful and spit masses of steam out of the engine, so we ditched it at La Spezia en route and got the train. No problems so far. Lovely train journey, great company, delicious meal. However, little did we realise that there was an Italian train strike so the times were all up the spout. We only figured this out at 1am when we were en route back and the train stopped about 6 stations short. It was the last train until 7am the next day, the taxis had abandoned the station and it had started to rain (yes, it does rain here too!). Anyway, to cut a long story short, after unsuccessfully pleading with various hoteliers, police and random passers-by, we had to spend the night in the railway station. We got about 20 mins sleep because we were so cold and so unused to sleeping rough. But we managed to amuse ourselves with games of “Count the flies on the wall” and “Last one to shiver gets an imaginary cigar”.

Our old neighbour Kaz and her friend Alex left us this weekend after a 4-day stay. Peter was in heaven with two new ladies, as were the cats (Weed came back to sleep in their room and Tumble got lots of playtime). They were super guests – generous, fun, alcoholic and the best washer-uppers this side of the Apuane Alps.

Chloe arrives tomorrow (hoorah!). More excuses to drink, walk gently around our house (instead of trying to knock it down) and talk non-stop for hours as we haven’t seen her properly for ages.

And last but not least, we have Simon back again at the end of the month as his rental place has fallen through and he needs to find another one asap. Hope he doesn’t mind sleeping amongst packing boxes!

October will be quieter, which is just as well because we really ought to focus on… the…er… the…h… um….what… oh, yes, that house-type thing with no working loo.

Anyway, we love and miss you all and hope you are faring the teetering economy and bad weather that we read about online every day. We do worry about you! Please don’t forget us and send us your comments here, or drop us an email or, better still, call us on Skype.

Ciao per ora
XXX