The big day arrived

The big day did indeed arrive. We were up for 6am and then over the pass to do a few things before the movers arrived. We swung through the village and found the lorry - it was a bank holiday and lorries can't be on the roads after 10am. It was the holiday of the Immacolata - the Immaculate Conception. I don't know if that was relevant or not.

The guys had driven up from Umbria that morning and were waiting on a transfer van run by a Kiwi in Florence to bring the stuff up our narrow, stone track.

On clockwork they arrived with the first long wheelbase load. Much guffawing about my 'logs' - pieces of carefully chosen and stored wood for carving, obvs. Strange to see all that stuff coming out of the van as the light rain turned to a steady drizzle. Re-united with all that stuff. Boxes and boxes of it.

They were done in four hours and three loads. It was all very British/Kiwi/Romanian. A good job well done fuelled with lots of tea and coffee and Italian stuff we had bought. The transferers left immediately for a job in Turin four hours away and I gave the UK guys a lift into Poppi and then back to Strada looking for a bar for them to get something to eat. They were on manoeuvres until December 16th. The rain fell steadily.

The Boss and I fell to sorting out stuff. By the close of play she had worked miracles inside while I outside sorted my 'logs' and kit. It was a strange re-union. It had a sense of finality about our new status as 'Stradini'. Having all the chattels meant we really were here to stay for a bit.

Course there is a huge amount to do and we've just had the estimates back for a new roof etc. But as they say round here, 'piano piano' - a bit at time.