Like many other countries the first is a national holiday celebrated here in Rome with a music festival and this year one of the unions declaring a strike on the 15th, The pope went to Assisi and markets opened and food fairs got into full swing. The new government suspended 6 billion of taxes and said they'd be reviewing the IMU so it wont be due in June - Hurrah We were cementing the gaps between the brickwork and the window frames before we dashed off at the weekend to Venice which coincided with the weather turning showery. We also wanted to get the holes plugged before lizards, bees or birds decided to use them for nesting. All was going to plan, if not to time table as some of the cementing involved me holding on to Mike as he leaned precariously out over the drop to bung up the gap over head. Suffice to say cement and gravity isn't that much fun even when wearing goggles and a hat you end up with most of it down the back or front of your shirt and in your hair. So the penultimate window and we are saying how well it was going when something from within the gap hissed. Mike lept off the windowsill on to my foot and cement went all over. But this wasn't our first concern.... Do lizards hiss? Well they are related to snakes. Do spiders? All I knew was I didn't want to meet an arachnid that sounded like a kettle and backed off. We looked at each other and went to do the last window hoping what ever was ensconced would take the opportunity to leave in our absence. It didn't. So we looked up how to get rid of lizards on the Internet, mothballs and they dissuade wasps, bees and lots of other critters from digging up the flower pots too. The thing started hammering on the wood from the inside, not a lizard then and more importantly not a snake or spider either, a wood pecker perhaps as a bright green with red cap chap had been seen on the fence just the day before?

The upshot of all this after an hour of us tapping and it tapping and hissing back was a fat stuck blue tit and it took us 20 mins, a cold-chisel and more cement to free bird and re-bung the hole we'd made. Still we're glad we made the effort. Who knew birds hissed? So they are descended from lizards astonishing.

What to pack? We were catching an early train so cool (18c) the train would be air conditioned after Florence but Venice being north by 4 hours (250km) was only expected to be 22c at best and showers forecast, but for just an overnight stay hand luggage was the sensible option and a packed lunch as we didn't fancy elbowing our way through crowds just as we'd arrived, just amble to our B&B munching as we went. In the end we selected a wash bag, light sandals, a change of undies, top, a cardigan and a small pack emergency shower cape each , camera, guide book and snack all packed into 2 eco-shopping shoulder bags so we could carry them easily having checked out of our digs without having to resort to lockers at the station and still have something to carry souvenirs. Hopefully if anyone tried to pickpocket they'd find empty crisp packets and dirty laundry.

Venice is very friendly and not as narrow or dark as we expected even the canals were wider than they look in films. The architecture is astonishing, not just the palaces but why some building remain standing. Our hotel was a private house until 2000 and was located in a very narrow alley but halfway between the station and St marks square and 5 mins from the water taxis to the islands, so perfect for our needs as we'd eaten on the train on the train we changed at the hotel before venturing out. Our bedroom was in the attic up 2 flights of such steep stairs we thought they were carpeted ladders. Being so steep we were told we would breakfast in main room rather than have a tray brought up to us, which was quite understandable. We then went straight out to the islands of Murano and on to Burano. The water taxi's are easy to use and run every half hour. We bought a 12 hour ticket @ 20 euros each as an hour is 7 euros as we planned to hop on and off all over the place. Murano glass is astonishing in variety, gaudy, plain, tasteful, tasteless, intricate, delicate, enormous, minute, funny, ugly, old, new and something for everyone at every price from thousands to a few euro's and they'll ship world-wide. They do not like you taking photos and politely ask you don't do so. However they have some astonishing pieces outside Burano is a fair distance from there, 20 mins by ferry, and is quite small with lots of brightly painted cottages and a needle lace industry. We got back to the main island just as the weather turned and dashed back to the B&B to wait out the rain before touring the grand canal at dusk watching as the palaces and restaurants turned on their chandeliers to light the main walkways, very atmospheric.

Breakfast was an event in itself as 3 bedrooms opened off the dining area and while we were eating a dad came through in just underpants and t-shirt followed by mum in p-j's carrying their tray heading to their children's room. Some moments later a child appeared semi-dressed and then came back with another in a nighty heading for another room. During our short meal the room was transversed by most of the guests and only the maid and us were fully dressed. A most entertaining start to the day.

The shops are abundant, likewise eateries and illegal sales pitches on the pavements which is odd when there are signs asking you to buy “made in Italy items only” if caught buying fakes you get fined for encouraging the licit trade. Only one was pushy to try to stop us and push an unwanted item into one of our bags, we said no, he insisted our child would want it and we said a) we had no children b) if he didn't vanish we'd complain to the authorities, he went and the other opportunists around looked surprised he'd tried to accost anyone in the first instance. Smoking was less than in Rome also beggars although we stopped one well dressed one stealing from the offertory in the church we visited. He was approaching people in a pew, genuflecting and holding out his cap for coins, then he went to an offertory box behind us, put his hat over the top and pulled out a fistful of coins. We commented audibly on this act so he returned them and left.

We did St Marks, very pretty and level with the water so no wonder it gets flooded although that usually happens in the last 2 months of the year and exceptional tides, no one is certain the barrier will work when its eventually finished, 12 years and counting....Saw the Monet exhibition in the Doges palace and Vivaldi's instrument and music collection in a nearby church building.

Had a go at the casino, a lovely palace, lost 10 euros on the machines, we didn't do the tables as there's a minimum spend of 50 euros a person and a strict dress code. No photos or large bags permitted and after 3.30pm Jackets would be provided for the gentlemen if needed. We'd been given free entry tickets, otherwise it would have been 5 euros each, and we had to hand over our ID cars and be photographed to prove a) we were over 18 (a long time ago that B'day) b) security.

The people who live there put up with thoughtless visitors, mostly off the huge cruise liners with short itineraries, blocking the streets and canal sides, pushing and running rough-shod over others feet with their trolley bags, rule is keep the the right and then everyone keeps moving. Loos need to be paid for or buy a coffee and ask to use the cafe facilities and they happily redirect the lost and bewildered. Off the main strips it gets cheaper to eat but this isn't a budget city, an evening meal will set a couple back 40-100 plus euro's easily, depending on courses and drinks. Pizza varies from something with an inch thick base to crisp and thin, they have rolled up stuffed flat breads as thick as an arm, sandwiches and foccacia from 3-5 euro's each and fish dishes are a specialty naturally. Cakes, sweets and deserts food to sink a ship so lots of choice to suit all tastes and pockets and the waiters do try to tempt you as you walk past with offers such as no service charges, 12.5% usually, but the prices are often adjusted up to compensate. We saw menus in every language and met every nationality except Borneo's rain-forest pygmies and if one had turned up we're sure missionary would have been put on the menu especially.

Worth the visit but not worth more then 2 days. Go back yes,, to see the carnival but not in the summer when it is not only busier (impossible), hotter (very uncomfortable as it was muggy anyway), mosquitoes and other insects along with sewage pongs or so several locals told us. Consider living there, no. We also experienced a strange phenomena where we felt we were swaying from time to time, nausea and dizziness, and felt jet-lagged, very odd and it only passed when we reached proper solid ground off the lagoon.

The trip home was uneventful for us but for one poor fella he had a ticket for seat 17d and the carriage only has 16 rows! Fortunately there were a few empty ones so he didn't have to stand. The cats pleased to see us and the grass appeared to have grown a foot in 24 hours.

We helped a friend move house and kept up with the garden but the rest of the month felt very mundane after our small adventure.

Mowing, strimming, weeding and all things gardening until the rain arrived on the 17th but this was nothing to the amazement of reading the UK had snow on the 15th. The trees , snapdragons, lobilia and roses exploded in blossom, the caterpillars ate what the snails missed but we did have banks of red poppies until the grass growth forced us to cut them. We put up the swing seat on the pool patio and erected the daybed down in the olive grove in the pergola there. We did encase the mattress in anti-wet covers, canvas and a nylon rubber coated top before covering with a waterproof cover, so it ought to survive.

Mach1 turned up with a strip of fur missing between his ears. No clue to how or why but he decided to stay in every night cuddled up to Mike until the dawn chorus woke him.

We were saddened and shocked to get an email from our workaway friends, who'd gone to Elba in April to work at the campsite they've been helping run for 4 years, to say Jules had been taken ill and within 3 weeks had died of liver failure. His poor wife had to travel back to the UK, having competed extensive paperwork to get his body home, and wait with his mother so he could be cremated. This was the third sudden and untimely death of a friend in 3 months and the 7th death since the beginning of the year.

Our family were also waiting test results, back op and MRI scan. The MRI showed a brother in law (40) had had a small stroke at Xmas, Sister no 6 needed her back vertebra fused as she's in so much pain she can hardly move, sister no 3's daughter has an enlarged bladder and a small dysfunctional kidney but No 3 is ok after a small scare earlier in the year, Ma has terrible rheumatoid arthritis so bad she cannot feed herself at times. A friend who has been seriously ill since last August is able to walk now but has contracted MRSA in the open wound which will hopefully healed so they can visit in September. 2013 is not a good year for health issues so far.

Enel should have adjusted the 6kw to 3kw in March but some idiot canceled the work so we got a bill 80 euros higher than it should have been. Rushed to Cini's where Francesca went to war with the operator at the company who promptly blamed her for the problem, said because the paperwork was late they'd canceled the work and hung up. We had to go to the sportello in Perugia, this was also the day it snowed the last day in May! Despite having gone to see the “sportello di commerce” in CDL, to get this sorted out, there we were told we had canceled the change. As we had lots of faxes to the contrariety and they got us to speak through a translator they agreed to make the change in 3 hours and a letter would be sent in 1 month with an offer of recompense (if any). We moved to Italy to be warmer?! The world has gone nuts !!

We got a letter saying the change from the s.a.s to s.s had been noted by the AE but what we missed was we ought to have gone to a meeting on the 20th as they wanted to ask about a tax for the transference based on some value or other that has no translation into English so our accountant told us 4 days afterwards. We signed a paper to get the boss to deal with it as our proxy as we've not a clue whats going on and we await for the next show to drop.

Mr S stopped us on our white road to say he'd got a quote to do the repairs and if we agreed they'd go ahead as we'd pay a third of the costs, around 1k (there goes the 700 IMU saving form the canceled June payment) OK we said when will the work start, 3 days! So 4 days later he takes the car-park end of the road to bits to make a down slope instead of the humpbacked bridge effect and blocks the road off in a mountain of mud !

Annie moved from the hillside behind us to the front side, Umbria to Tuscany, and to help her paint and find the garden she had us create a new page with the workaway site and Sam came the first week, her son Chris the next month James. New kitchen, 2 bathrooms and wardrobes to come.