Now the fun begins

Much to-ing and fro-ing in Italian and English today as we sorted out the 'proposta di acquisto' - the offer for the house. Finally after a few iterations it was ready. It's all quite confusing and one tries to calibrate the risk versus gain calculation from different angles.

At the last minute I had neither printer nor scanner to hand and went haring up over the Consuma pass at 3,000ft to get to GL-bae - as he is now known - since P and A's visit - to get him to help me. Three and a half hours later I rolled back down the Consuma, the weather even at past nine hot. At the pass it was 23C but down in Sieci it was up at 28C.

A beautiful sunset. Two little capriolo kids were playing by the side of the road.

As I left the Poppi office - a rather dingy affair that could be the home of a private investigator called Rocky Pitigliano - with the traffic passing in the narrow main road outside and the cigarette machine on the opposite side of the street catching the sinking sun - GL-bae said,

'I always say that it is only after finding your house in Italy that the problems begin.'

We shall see. They say here for luck, like 'break a leg' in bocca lupo - literally in the wolf's mouth. On occasions requiring almost superhuman luck one is supposed to shift tone and intention and mutter  Che creppi il lupo - if only the sodding wolf would die.

The house on which we are pinning our sovereign hopes and salvation is backed by a vast wooded hill that rises to 800m and is called Monte Lupino - 'the hill of the little wolf'.

Whether that is an omen or a condemnation is hard to know. But onward we go. The scanned proposal has been whizzed to the owners.

Si ha bisogna di paziena addesso. Patience, my friends, patience.

An extra of the sunset. The main photo is looking back towards Valldomborsa and the Pratomagno. The house lies on the other side of them high hills. Both taken on an old iPhone and mucked around with after. Both are better embigger.