Wildcat strikes in Italy, sometimes a good thing

Just got back from a holiday in Cape Town , a beautiful country and people and lots to see and do. Our flight back unfortunately was delayed after we had boarded 3 hours on the tarmac for an engine technical fault. We departed at midnight , now due to arrive a 9.00 in the morning instead of 6am with our connecting flight to Pisa at 9.25. We were going to miss it. In fact we did miss it and unfortunately British airways did not have another direct flight but booked us on a flight to Rome at 12.45 the same day and then a flight with Alitalia from Rome arriving in Pisa at 18.30 arriving 6 hours late and having been travelling since 5.00 pm the previous day. We were passing Livorno at 3.30pm when BA announced they were very sorry there was a wildcat strike by ground staff at Rome airport they couldnt land there and they would have to divert to the nearest airport PISA! How lucky was that for some! That brought a smile to our faces the first of the day!

A New Garden of Eden

We have unfortunately lost our pomegranate tree either under the rubble or as a result of the earth moving. In addition we have lost a plum tree, one fig and an olive tree. Once the building work is complete we will be planting two (new) old olive tree as focal points in the garden area near the house as well as planting lots of herbs and plants which are happy growing in rocky areas with little attention and water.  I aslo hope o replant espalier fruit trees which will grow against the walls of the terraces. We have a fair number of olive trees but none with nice old trunks. We had to give them all a hard pruning last year as they had had nothing done for a few years so few or no olives this year. When I am there full time it will be a pleasure to do it myself.

Enel have done some pruning!

Enel have visited us and with their chain saw have cut back lots of trees near us. Unfortunately they dont clean up after, hopefully this will not be a fire risk. However there is lots of wood(oak) for those with wood burning stoves. If its still on the ground next year I will out there with my chain saw!

Nerves of Steel

We have just got back from  visiting the house if it can be described as such. There is a lot of steel now inside holding up the structure. Now I know where the money is going! We also had a meeting at the falegname whose work we saw. Real wooden shutters – lets hope when I receive his preventivo(quote) I can afford them! The first of many retaining walls is being put in place now.The builders have also decided to use an alternative access route. The only problem is that this is not asphalted and has become very muddy… I have to call my neighbour to apologise.

Wet Weather Stops Play

It looks like the weather this week will slow down progress. I will be taking boots with me on thursday as I will be needing them to have a look round as there will be a lot of mud. We are seeing on thursday the Kitchen people, the carpenter for the wood shutters outside and the architect and impiantista to confirm where we want all the plug and light switches. So I wll post again at the weekend with more news and some photos.