November 2015

We took full advantage to get to grips with the sewing project and Mike has taken his computer apart to swap the hard drives around so the operating system is on the smaller one and all his planes and scenery on the big one. So HDD's in, out, wiped , copied, swapped again and so on.

We had a flat tyre that went flat over night after pumping up so trundled off to the boys below and asked for an inner tube but was told they'd repair it in 10 mins at a cost of 15 euros. So we stopped for a coffee and the boss popped in and said to make it 7 euros for the kitty and that was that. Then went on to our service garage and got the rubber boot for the grease on the transmission fitted and that was also less than expected so bought a lottery ticket, but no we didn't win!

We sent off emails and recorded delivery letters to the debt collectors representing Wind telecom asking again what the odd amount of 113.80 in February they’re asking is for? It doesn’t correspond to our monthly agreed terms of 29.95 and as we had a different service from Dec 2014 it can’t be for calls after the 10th Jan which was our last bill and that was paid in early February. The invoice, which we’ve never seen, is dated after we didn’t have a service and the modem had been returned in December so it’s a real puzzle.

Ann’s new Opel Corsa looks chunky but is the same size as ours but the lights and things are in different places and its a full manual not a semi-automatic like the last one. She just driving in daylight so when we go to celebrate her and Nello's birthday on Sunday we'll give her a lift. She's also been diagnosed as being allergic to grass pollen ! So selling is becoming a high priority especially as she now getting worried about living there alone during the winter.

A friend fell in the kitchen and broke her kneecap and was put into a fiberglass cast. That put paid to their plans to fly to Inverness to see friends before Xmas. Our Italian friend’s mother died after a fall in the home she’d just been sent to as a safety measure, because she was so frail and had to be cared for 24/7, the daughter is naturally distraught.

I emailed No10 and the foreign secretary to ask what our, and everyone else's, position would be if the UK left Europe? in respect to our UK pensions, health card etc. and despite the web site saying someone would respond with a week nothing and that was months ago.

Just across the valley, looking towards Fabro, is a tree that is red on the top, then a gold band of leaves, light green and dark green near the bottom, its not a good photo but it does show up against the other trees, odd isn't it and who'd believe it?

The leaves suddenly fell of the majority of our trees so we got back to pruning and bonfiring them. On the 13th we couldn’t see the BBQ this morning and the temperature dropped to 6 in the night so lemons needed tucking away for the winter. It didn’t feel that cold but we'd been spoilt by sunny days in the mid 20's and now autumn was knocking at the door. The weather for the winter has been reported as a) snow from the North all the way down to Rome because of el Nino b) Snow in the north then rain for 2 months and 2c warmer than normal. So freezer is full and planning to stock up and stay put.

Mike got to fly in the new trainer plane and while waiting for him to return I got a treat when a helicopter arrived and several other club members with a car-transporter following behind with10 Jaguar F types onboard. The soft-tops are in excess of 120k here. The chap is a test driver (they say pilot here) for all makes of high performance cars and he stays overnight locally before delivering his load. The last visit he had Porches and before that Ferrari’s. The door handles were all sticking out slightly and when touched the car horn sounded. Before leaving he had every key fob for the cars and shut each one down and the door handle and wing mirrors retracted or folded away, very neat. The consolation was one would never get up our road not to mention the cost of the vehicle being beyond our pockets, still it was wonderful to see them and hear the roar of the engine that much louder than the plane or helicopter.

Christmas arrived in the middle of the month with shops stacking festive treats and decorations. When we moved here this happened in the 2nd week of December but slowly American ideas are creeping in. The weather turned chilly and blustery in the last week heralding winter is on its way as was shown by the first light dusting of snow on the mountains by Perugia on the last weekend of the month.

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