January, February, March 2009 (From Western Telegraph)

January, February, March 2009

10:26am Thursday 31st December 2009

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The year started wet and wetter with freezing temperatures. It turned out to be the wettest and coldest January in 200 years. We lost a lot of china bowls and pots we had been using as planters when the temperatures plummeted from 5 degrees to minus 8 in under 2 hours, the freezing water just exploded them. This proved to us why it was necessary to have copper drain pipes and chimneys, anything else just doesn’t survive the extremes and the speed of the sudden changes.

We swapped electric suppliers and looking back realised we had also changed our gas supplier, accountant, geometra and telephone suppliers to gain an ADSL connection, all in the previous 12 months. So we could now use SKYPE to talk to family and friends over the internet.It is odd that Tiscali, an Italian company, offer the U.K. so much for so little but we can’t get the same deals here. Other ex-pats were reluctant to do so waiting to see if things went OK for us before trying the same method to save on costs, but with the world-wide credit crunch we considered every penny saved worth while.

The bath we had ordered finally arrived from the UK. This may seem a strange extravagance but we wanted a roll top acrylic bath that was insulated and deep enough to thaw out in. Similar baths here were four times the cost. Including delivery we got what we wanted at the price a simple bath with a side and end panel would have cost here. With our new bio-mass boiler we will have plenty of hot water to fill it. Of course it does mean we can only have baths in winter – the cost of heating enough water to fill our bath by gas is prohibitive. The delivery delay was at this end and eventually, when prodded by the bath company in the UK, they decided to try and find us. The driver only got part of the way up our road and then abandoned the bath half way to the house, saying he had to go on to the next delivery or lose his job. We struggled but ultimately managed to man (and woman) handle the tub the rest of the way and into the house where it resided in splendour in the dining room, until Max was able to come and plumb it in the bathroom several weeks later.

The Court hearing date (for the two men who had tried to sell us stolen wood) loomed and Ann, who had translated the summons for us, offered to come to court to act as Michael’s interpreter as it was uncertain if there would be a translator available at Orvieto. The time of the case was set for 10am, so Mike and Ann arrived 20 minutes early and met in a packed court room by the police officer in charge of the case. This was most unexpected as we had been told the hearing would be in a small room with the judge, a stenographer, the defence lawyer and accused.. The prosecution lawyer said the Judge had decided to deal with some cases with complex issues first as many would be deferred to a later date and this proved to be the case. Someone was called before the court for miss-labelling fabric as being made by ‘Prada’ and other famous names. The defence said each impounded bolt must be tested to prove it was not what it labelled as before the case could be judged and asked for another year. The judge said 4 months and went on to the next case of selling branded goods that were fakes. Michael and Ann waited until 1.40 for their turn. They were sent to a separate room where they to be sworn in and Michael’s statement was taken again by a clerk. The policeman was being given the same treatment in the courtroom as a defence lawyer was hastily picked from those assembled as neither defendant or their legal representative had turned up.

The case was over in the 10 minutes before the court finished for lunch, recommencing after 3pm. The driver of the lorry was not on trial as the other man said he had only hired him to deliver the logs. This was clearly untrue as both had harangued us for hours but they were trying to defer the blame to keep out of jail. The second man, had been caught doing the same thing the previous year in Tuscany and already had a black mark against his name, so this would be his second offence, with a heavier fine. Not much of a deterrent, which turned out to be the case as Ann told us a month later they were trying the same scam again near Lake Trasimeno. So our worry over appearing as police witnesses was done and we could now see why most people didn’t bother to report small crimes as it took years to come to court and days of work to be there.

February was still raw, blustery and wet with farmers tractors up to their axles in mud trying to plough ready to seed later in the month. They plough very deeply here as the soil is quite sandy. Predictions of food shortages and soaring prices due to the exchange markets going crazy also made prices fluctuate weekly. The local spa offered couples a romantic dinner and use of the thermal baths for a special night, we were tempted but the thought of getting out of 35 degree water into the freezing night air put us off. Then, after the official 1st day of spring, the weather changed. It was still cold in the mornings but the days were warm and the birds started singing, the huge blue bees and lizards came out of hibernation, it actually felt like spring had arrived.

Lidl’s started to stock white emulsion and waterproof bathroom paint. We knew that, sooner or later, we would have to redecorate after the bio-mass project work was done so we raided the shop and bought 125 ltrs. Then they had varnish and wood preserver, all things we’d need to use in the forthcoming months, so we bought whist it was available. Luckily for us the locals are not really tuned in to DIY and still believe you have to hire a tradesman to do the work. He buys from the trade suppliers. Next year we probably won’t be so lucky as the younger generation are beginning to wield their own brushes and will race us to the cheaper supplies The Comune office contacted us to ask if there were still the 100 fruit trees on site? We arrived at the office looking startled and confused, as usual. Once, may be 100 years ago there had been a cherry plantation on the hill and the area we occupy may have had around a 100 trees, huge things towering 30 feet high, but only one poor specimen remained. No matter, but did we have fruit trees? Well we had some we’d bought, 30 pomegranate seedlings and 20 passion flowers, some gooseberry bushes we were trying to propagate. The up shot was that no-one was going to check but to get the plants in the ground and try to get near the number and everyone would happy, be pleased to sign here to that effect. He smiled and waved us out of his office, just as confused as when we arrived but some things are just inexplicable.

The free Italian lessons restarted and we had a whole new group of in-commers like ourselves to learn with, artists, authors, sculptors, international chefs, poets as well as companions and hospitality agents. We can’t say we had made much progress from the last year but we certainly understood a lot more and the speed that the locals speak at didn’t have us looking so confused as it had in the past. The lessons were held in the library building, a converted old palace that had more levels below than above and amazing frescos. We decided to take some children’s books and tried those written for 6 year olds. 2 books took a month with dictionary and verb book in hand as there were so many words we just couldn’t find that were used but we puzzled through them with the help of friends, teachers and locals alike who were pleased we were making an effort.

The geometra met with Max, our builder at the end if the month, to say although the permission had not been stamped officially he could start work. The builder said he’d be free to begin the work on the first Tuesday of March and the geometra protested. He said either start on the Monday or the Wednesday but not the Tuesday. We asked why and were told that Tuesday and Fridays are the day of the witch and anything started on those days was doomed not to be completed. Max lives in Tuscany and said that it wasn’t a superstition there only in Umbria where Sig. Cini lives. They discussed things and agreed that if Max delivered some parts on the Monday, on his way home, he would have deemed to have begun the work and he could commence bashing the wall down on the Tuesday as he wanted to. We hastily packed up and moved out of our bedroom to join the bath in the living area. So the first week in March, work started, only 7 months late and a year after we had applied for permission.

It went well, most things arrived on time and Max, with his mate Marco arrived everyday at 7.15am and left between 5-6pm daily, taking the hour for lunch. Naturally the front of the house was cluttered with cement mixer, oxyacetylene tanks, as they braise the brass pipes and not solder them, bricks, sand, cement and all the other paraphernalia builders need. They were spot on in their anticipation of completing in the 3 weeks but despite being very careful the mess and dust was unimaginable. The new boiler room looked like something our of Cape Canavral switches, conduit, control boxes, pressure gauges, levers and the biggest hot water tank in a zip up thermal jacket that we’d ever encountered.

Spring truly arrived overnight, one day it was drab, cold and grey the next we had bulbs blooming, grass up to our knees and we were working outside in our shirt sleeves. Typical, we thought, just as they are putting in the new central heating system we won’t need it until the next winter. However in mid March the weather plunged from 18 degrees with soft breezes and blue skies to minus two and snow! The new boiler fired up and for the first time we could shed the many layers that we have worn every winter and basked in the heat. It got too hot and we opened the doors to get a through draught. There was so much hot water having a bath was simple and such bliss. All the trouble to get it imported and installed was worth it. We learnt three things: 1) Buy the bath fittings you want when you order it, especially if importing, as you cannot get anything similar in Italy. 2) They use imperial measurements for plumbing fittings here 3) We were extraordinarily lucky to have a builder who could & would multi-task as normally this would have taken 3-4 months having to first get the builder, then the plumber then an electrician and so on. This system can cause untold havoc as they rarely communicate with each other and mistakes are frequently made and have to be undone again.

The clean up and painting took us into April…….