Where did it all go right? Where did it all go? Where has it all been? Where will it all go? Those are the questions on my lips today people. Well, it's been two weeks and being brutally honest I have been working working working and very little else - appalling behaviour I know.
I'll start today and work backwards. Today is a very sunny and beautiful day, and very crisp and clear is it is just a degree or two above freezing. We were planning on going to buy some bike stuff near Pisa today, but that got put on hold by the car dying on Thursday. A couple of weeks ago I called our car "boring" - this upset Dawn, but seemingly it has really upset the car. Since then we have had a flat tire, and then on Thursday the battery went completely dead. We live a little way outside Siena, so we had to get taxis to and from work and garages don't seem to open late here. Thankfully someone at work kindly got the correct battery for us and this morning our neighbour Guiseppe helped me fit it (I don't have any tools any more!) and it is A OK, fingers crossed. We are not risking it though, so only going to local trips for the next while. And I shall certainly not be calling the car "boring" ever again!
After fixing the car, I have been on a bike ride - just a simple trot around the local hills. Went to the Basilica Osservanzo - kind of an old monastery with an amazing view of the city - and just sat around in the sun for a bit. I got a bit freaked out by all the insects that are around. I guess that in the UK the cold weather kills off all the insects every year but that just hasn't happened hear. Today I saw a whole load of scary red beetles, a slightly demented wasp, and the last few weeks I am still seeing bees and spiders. Feels strange. Up by the Basilica I saw a lizard basking on the wall in the sun - I tried to catch it but it ran away. I tried to take a photo when it came out again, but it was too quick!
Tried out my new knee warmers today, they worked well - basically like big tights for cycling in that cover your legs. Smashing.
Yesterday, KLF finally had the twins - a boy and a girl, the boy being blessed with ginger power! And Brendy is a father too - it's all going on. Congrats to all. And it's Annie's birthday too - have a doggin' great time.
Work has been good, but tough as ever. Long long days, but I am still enjoying it, so all good. We, the company, is expecting an European audit in April, so we are having a general audit in February - the upshot of this is that we have to spend the first two weeks of February at our German site - getting grilled. Busy busy. But good busy!
Whilst we're on the subject of exciting (!) cars I shall tackle a little about Italian driving again. The rules for Italian driving are different to the UK, and it takes a little time to adjust and then things are fine. Roundabouts are really just a filter, rather than waiting until there's a gap - people just pull out, and once you are used to that then everything is absolutely fine! I was ack in the UK at the weekend and the driving style is very different, and it took a while to adjust. At one point I was trying to get out from a service station onto a roundabout off the M25 and it took 10 minutes to drive the 200 yards due to the bad set up - it would have never happened in Planet Italia!
So yes - I popped back to the UK at the weekend. It was Tannaz's birthday and I was doing a combat class too. It was great to see everyone, I had a great time, had a fantastic Indian meal - which just does not exist here! - and a good combat class, but I must say it felt quite odd being back, and I was quite pleased to return to Italy. Poor Dawn had been horseying near Milan the weekend and had waited to bring me back to Siena from Pisa airport, I didn't land till nearly midnight, and we didn't get home till nearly 2am! Bless her.
Italian lessons are progressing. I am certainly understanding a lot more now, but not enough, and I am not practising enough. I had an Italian lesson yesterday, in the morning at the end of a long and hard week, and I really had had enough and absolutely hated it. I am looking forward to being in Germany and not having to speak any Italian for two weeks!
Olive update! About 5 weeks ago we decided to prepare some olives. We picked some olives off the olive trees on our land and put them in salt. We have now taken them out of the salt and they are like tiny shrivelled dried things! Taste good though. I have now put them in water, to see if they rehydrate!
Sunny pictures are of dawn creeping over the Tuscan hills out the back of our place.
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