Juliet writes:
BUON NATALE TUTTI! At this festive time of year, we are missing you all very much.
I am writing this in the glorious sunshine on the day of Christmas Eve. Presents are wrapped, wreath made, olive oil bottled, cats asleep, husband in good health and all is well… for now!
However, it’s been a bumpy ride to get to this semblance of normality and peace.
A few days after my last blog entry, P woke me up in the middle of the night in agony. I am not talking about your usual ‘I am a man, my eyelid hurts a bit and thus it is the end of the world’ pain… I am talking about serious howling accompanied by a full repertoire of cursing that would give Mary Whitehouse rather a lot to write about. Poor man – I hadn’t seen him that unhappy in 10 years. It was those blasted kidney stones again. Or, more accurately, as we discovered half an hour later at the local Pronto Soccorso (emergency ward), it was the damage done by the kidney stones leaving his system. Ouch. Anyway, after a morphine drip and some gentle sympathy from all around him, I took him home. In fact the damaged tissue healed pretty quickly and he was back to his usual self within a day or so. Although, as my dear husband refuses to follow the doctor’s advice and drink any water, I wouldn’t be surprised if it happened again. Only this time, he will probably have to walk to the hospital as I wont take him at 3am again!
Of course, being the Staveleys, this all took place rather inconveniently during our olive harvest, so I not only had to play nurse but also to spend a day being sole picker: climbing, hacking twigs and scrabbling about in the undergrowth gathering up those precious little black and green gems.
Despite being like an ironing board the next day, it was worth it… we took our two baskets to the local co-operative press and had such a fun 3 hours with mill owner Signor Valentino Rossi (no relation to the motorbike champion), various local farmers and neighbours (see pics). It was very interesting watching the process and asking/learning all about it (well, as much as our Italian would allow) – much more complicated and lengthy than we thought. Although we have only managed to produce a measly 7 litres of oil, it is fully organic, 100% extra-virgin and it tastes delicious. The bottles you get in Sainsburys are generally only about 5-10% extra-virgin, so this is pretty strong stuff by comparison. Anyway, we have managed to bottle a few little samples for our friends and family, so you must let us know (honestly) what you think!
We do at last have a builder (excited whoops of joy and relief!). In fact we have two: Stepan and Ivan – the Ukranian brothers who have lived here for 15 years and come highly recommended. We have seen their completed work on a huge old farmhouse and it’s flawless. Plus, they are quarter of the price of most others and, better still, they work through siestas and at weekends, so are fully optimistic that we will have a habitable house soon. Well as soon as we can actually start the work. More bureaucracy means that their contracts are delayed until we get a plumber. Does anyone, anywhere in the world know a reliable, fast, cheap plumber?! Having waited 2 months to get a quote from the one we wanted, it came in at half our entire house budget so we are back to square one. We have got another 4 names to try for, but as you know it all takes time and nothing gets done over Christmas, so we are forcing ourselves to not worry about it until the new year.
In between, we have had various friends staying – Charlie and Jen (pics of more rude vegetables to the left) and Sammy (non-vegetable-related pics). You were all wonderful in putting up with our tired bickering and letting us run around manically trying to find olive oil bottles and builders. We can’t wait to see you again… if we haven’t put you off forever!
We also squeezed in a visit to Blighty, primarily for dad-in-law’s 92nd birthday. He is still doing amazingly well and we had a full itinerary of visitors, entertainment, fine dining and shopping. This included a lovely birthday tea at Oak House where we met more staff (all wonderful) plus the new ladies on his table, one of whom is 105 years old, going on 20 – a true inspiration! Then we were treated to a fun jazz carol concert during which P and I embarrassed ourselves by dancing and singing (neither of us can do either well). The celebrations were rounded off with a super dinner at a local hostelry with son number 2 James, plus dad’s lovely friends Paul and Carolyn. Much fun and many bottles were had. We did have one heartbeat-skipping moment when we were visiting mum-in-law’s grave and dad took a balletic dive onto P’s foot. Luckily no harm was done, and a whisky and a sponge down aided full recovery. Thanks for a lovely few days Poppa.
Then we shot off to London to see mum in time for my birthday. I felt so utterly pampered as I awoke to a glam haircut/style at home by Toni & Guy hairdresser (Laura, you are fab), followed by a girlie shopping trip and an hour’s blissful massage. So removed from anything in Italy, where I go for months without anything remotely resembling a beauty routine. Then followed a lovely impromptu afternoon tea with Marion, Adam, Sylvia, Maria and little Dominic before I was whisked away for dinner and a trip to the West End (I do miss London and it is a thrill to be back in one of the most beautiful, liveliest capitals in the world). We watched the musical ‘Imagine This’: based on a family in the Polish ghetto in 1942, it is hardly cheery stuff, but I loved every minute of it. I am so sad to learn that it is being pulled early. Try to see it before it goes! To finish off my treats, the next morning mum cooked a super full English breakfast, including the veggie sausages which I have missed so much, and invited friends over. Thank you mums for one of the most memorable birthdays I’ve ever had XXXXX
Then we forced ourselves away and managed to see our Teddington friends (well, the ones who hadn’t come down with flu/lurgy), including some fun hours with Anya and Chris, a gorgeous lunch with Natters, Matt and Caitlin, a quick drink with Rod and Alex (we will get you over here soon to sample our wine!) and the perfect afternoon with the Brosh gang, just relaxing, playing with the girls and eating delicious cake. Heaven!
Our return home was blighted by the fact that (a) we missed our check-in by five minutes due to a 10-mile tailback on the M11 and (b) our excess luggage cost the same as the national debt of Iceland. Thank you RyanAir. We love you so much. But in the great scheme of things, it didn’t matter a jot as we managed to relax and find a nice pub while we waited for the next flight. And back in Toscana we have had lots of distractions to keep us from any self-pity…
Firstly, during a thunderstorm, the beautiful, original 16th century artesian well in our cloisters has been smashed to smithereens. I learnt my first Italian swear words the afternoon I rang Giovanni to let him know. Poor man – it will no doubt be very costly to get archeologists in to restore it in time for the weddings in Spring.
Then, our dear friend Sarah damaged her back on her birthday so we went round to offer emergency massages, sympathy and wine. We had a super impromptu evening catching up with their youngest son, baking potatoes on an open fire and watching the Strictly Come Dancing final… all quite surreal for us as we have had no TV for 8 months.
Next, on consecutive days, our two dear felines got stuck up the same tree. Weed was easy to pick off at a mere 30 feet up, but Tumble decided to out-do her big sister and climb twice as high. Poor Peter had to get the builder’s ladder out to full extension and ascend – slowly and wobbly through all those scratchy pine needles – and spend half an hour persuading her to be prized off her favourite branch. If that wasn’t enough, the next day poor little kitty had an appointment to have her bits snipped. After two days, she is now walking around with slightly less wincing but in need of lots of love. She is still prefers weeing in the bidet rather than outside but I can’t pick her out of it without hurting her so I am just letting it go (or rather, letting her go) and using lots of detergent until her stitches are out. At least she is eating properly again and eyeing up our baubles with a little too much enthusiasm for my liking.
And finally, we had our first Italian earthquake yesterday! Or more precisely, two earthquakes. One at about 4pm, one at 11pm – both mercifully small. So small, in fact, that P didn’t believe me when I squealed with excitement and shouted “Terramota!”. He spent the rest of the time looking at me like I was bonkers until he read the Times Online this morning and hung his head in an apologetic manner.
But now – thankfully – all is quiet and we are thoroughly enjoying the run-up to Christmas. For those who know me well, I usually dread this time of year – stressful, tiring, expensive and, with all that food and my tummy problems, very painful. However, looking at the snow-capped mountains and pine trees in the sunshine and the plethora of stars at night, one can’t help but feel festive. We are off to our friends Simon and Sarah tomorrow for a full British turkey meal and drunken charades. Can’t wait. But the rest of our Natale is very Italian. I have interrupted this blog twice because local friends have come round bearing – what else? – panettone and prosecco of course. They have made us feel so welcome. The shopkeepers have all given us little gifts too – from flowers, plants and calendars, to things we don’t even recognise or know what to do with. The local children have adorned the Christmas tree next to the Medici fountain (sorry, I just love saying that we have our own local Medici fountain, don’t I?!) with letters to Father Christmas. ‘Babba Natale’, as he is known here, has been asked for everything from a large red plastic truck to world peace. The live nativity was wonderful. Carols, a real donkey and a baby Jesus (although the latter had a dummy in his mouth which rather ruined the authenticity). We are even going to our first Catholic midnight mass tonight at our local church – sorry vicar!
It is all much more low-key and traditional here, although, being Italy typically there are a few bazaar things to keep us on our toes. I leave you with the Special Christmas Hamper offer at Conad (the big supermaket in Aulla). For only E10, you too can have a very seasonal:
Two packets of lasagne sheets
One bag of lavazza coffee
One bottle of fizzy pop
One panettone (just in case you don't already have enough)
Some tinned spam (mmmm) and
Not one but two whole packets of frozen peas!
Tempted?
Whatever you are up to, we wish you all a very Happy Christmas and may your 2009 be filled with love, laughter, good health, prosperity, peace and lashings of fine wine.
Lots of love and festive kisses to you all.
Felice nuovo anno e salute!
XXXXX
NB Don’t miss our first 2009 Special Report: Panettone... 1,001 uses, from toilet cleaner to emergency shock absorber
