Il Melo Blog

Lots to do today before we leave in the morning – last minute shopping (mainly oil and wine), packing the car and also leaving the house in a decent state.

The weather is much better today; bright sunshine at the house although cloud still clings to the hills to such an extent that MS Martino and Penna SG are bouthed shrouded in mist. First stop is the oleificio (olive oil pressing plant) of Miconi to get some oil to take back home. Unfortunately he isn’t in but his very aged mother shuffles over from the house. She is the first person ever to say anything negative about il Melo: oh no, I don’t like it, it’s too far away from everything. Obviously she prefers to live on a main road and has reached the age when she can be rude whenever she likes (or maybe she was always crabby). She tells me (I think) that she taught English for forty years but makes no attempt actually to use the language. We eventually manage to find a couple of bottles and she then wants to charge me 2 euros for a cardboard carrier. I say if I have to pay, I won’t bother but she’s very insistent that the bottles will break otherwise and that they have had to pay for the packaging so I should pay too. I manage to extricate myself without the box and wrap the bottles in a coat on the floor. Next I want to go to a branch of my bank to check my balance but it’s much farther than I thought and we end up going to the Oasi hypermarket to stock up on pasta for home snacks for the journey.

The intention on the way back is to buy wine at the Ciu Ciu shop but I hadn’t realised it’s only open in the afternoon so we’ll have to go back later which will probably waste and hour or so. The final errand is to Tre Querce agriturismo at Penna; I owe them 90€ from last year when their credit card machine didn’t work because the line was down – a common problem that also happened to us this Easter Sunday. Daniele is away in Rome but a middle aged lady (his mother?) is absolutely delighted that I have come back; I don’t think they expect people to be honest.

We were supposed to be lunching with Giovanni and Rita but Dominic is felling scik (playing on a DS while negotiating these windy roads is not a good idea) and falls asleep on the sofa. I phone up and tell them we shan’t be able to make it and Rita insists on bringing some pasta down to us. These people really are fantastic!

We finally make it to Ciu Ciu and stock up – mostly for us but half a dozen for a friend who was here last summer and loves Italian reds.

We have a new sensation this evening – mating frogs croaking their heads off. Fortunately it’s a spring thing so won’t affect people’s holidays in the summer. It’s also a good demonstration of how good the double glazing is at keeping sound out.

It’s now just gone 8:30 and the car is almost packed, I’ll finish in the morning in daylight.