Julius started school on September 13th, his first foray into the media (middle school), and – from all accounts – a big leap from the elementary. It’s an earlier start (8am) – not a happy prospect in our household – it’s further away in Urbisaglia, involves dropping him at the bridge at 7:15am to be picked up by the bus, and – worst of all – requires attendance on Saturdays. True it’s mornings only (except for a l-o-n-g Tuesday), but still – Saturdays? Apparently only France and Italy (in Europe, at least) still follow this childhood-depriving practice, and it’s so established that – unlike the horrified reactions it elicits in fresh stranieri like us – it doesn’t strike the locals as being the slightest bit strange.
After a less than enthusiastic start, it seems to have improved a little day by day, notwithstanding the increased homework load. But it’s wrought a distinct change in our household routine – the early start has resulted in an equally early start for me, and after dropping Julius at the bus, I’m at our house painting by
On this front (painting our house), like Julius’ new school experience, after a slow start things have gone better day by day. Our self-imposed deadline to finish painting upstairs by this past Friday was comfortably met … and then Giuseppe the carpenter didn’t turn up to lay the floor this weekend after all. Oh well, it needed to be done anyway, and it seems the carpenter will be there this coming weekend.
Only the fire-stained beams remain to be “fixed”, hopefully to gain a whiter shade than the yellow that they’re currently sporting. Following several coats and attempts to remove the stain, we’re now down to a salt treatment as a last resort.
After that it’ll be downstairs, which we need to finish before the German quartz floor guy arrives on October 11th. This will be the last task before the plumbing, heating, and electricals can be finally hooked up and we can move in. We’re focused on October 20th, and – needless to say – can’t wait.
Other than house- and school-related preoccupations, there’s space for little else.
Maria did give her first-ever German lesson this past week to a lone Italian student. She was late, in not atypical fashion, although on this occasion her dead car battery was the culprit. Luckily she had given herself enough time to get there so that when her car failed she was able to walk from the farmhouse where we’re staying to our house where I and my car were – a 45-minute walk – so that she was only 10 minutes late for the lesson.
But what are the odds of this happening on this very day at this very time? Her car hasn’t given the slightest bit of trouble so far, and on her walk from the farmhouse to our place, not a single car (and a possible lift) passed her. Coincidence? I think not. [Insert tongue in cheek here.]
The other event of note was the first snowfall of the season, in September no less. It only dusted the mountaintops, but after last year’s dearth of snow, it’s a promising sign for the coming winter, at least if you’re a snow-lover like HRH.
Today, a glorious cloudless autumn Sunday morning, I’m sitting on the patio at our friend Anna’s house, babysitting their animals as they visit friends and family in
As much as old farmhouse living is full of “character” and “colour”, I have to confess it’s all beginning to wear a little thin. It’s time to be in our own place again, with our stuff immediately at hand instead of irretrievably buried in a storeroom stacked to the rafters, or in an attic that we have to get permission to access.
So we’re counting the days, not missing the irony that even though we’ve always targeted having just one bathroom done so we could move in, the bathrooms will be the last things to be completed.
So it has gone thus far, and appears to be continuing. There are times when it seems as if this all as a test, and we’re being provocatively challenged – is this what we really want? I wonder if everyone in our position goes through this …
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