Friday, April 30, 2010

Spring has sprung!

Mother nature is definitely working over time as this time of year the grass and flowers in the olive grove seem to grow before your eyes. It  is a shame building work is not progressing as quickly. So here are acouple of photos of flowers taken on the last visit as it wasnt worth taking a photo of the progress. Can anyone name them for me?Flower power 1Flower Power 3Flower Power 4Flower power 2

Wednesday, April 14, 2010

Spot the difference

Yesterday I spent in Castelnuovo Magra at the building site. It is still difficult to see the progress without looking carefully below the surface. They have reinforced the first floor so we can now remove the supports holding it up. All the openings have now been made and some filled up again. They are now extending the old roof line where the external staircase was knocked down. The budget is being exceeded as fast as I try and contain it suprise suprise. Here are 2 fotos taken a over a month apart …spot the difference!Open HouseNot quite open

Friday, April 2, 2010

Five things I didnt miss about driving on the autostrade in Italy!

Having just arrived back from the UK by car I realised that inspite of having a lot to offer the Bel Paese lacks something as far as the driving experience on the autostrade is concered.
1) Italy must have the most trucks per square inch of motorway surface than the rest of europe added together. Driving in heavy rain/traffic or at night with trucks at a moments notice pulling out in front of you is not fun.
2) Unwelcome backseat drivers… ie the car so close behind you can see the the hairs in the drivers nose!
3) Vast expanse of motorways without traffic( this only applies to France I have to say) but what a delight, hours of driving on auto pilot impossible in Italy. You could almost look at countryside whilst driving. (I think Italians do this anyway)
4) No idiot drivers who flash to pass you then cut you up in order to get to the exit as quickly as possible.
and finally…
5) Male italian drivers cannot be bothered to go to a service station to pee but pee in the laybys by their car for all to see, maybe they have smaller bladders, not a sight seen in the UK or the whole length of France. But in France there are more service stations and more  toilets.
I dont like to be so negative but to finish on a positve note you just cant beat the coffee in an Italian autogrill!