Our waterfall

The little torrent that marks our boundary cuts down deep through the soft rock of this part of Tuscany. The torrential rain yesterday had filled it up and as I cleared up the newly cleared land I slid down a slippery path to look at the water.

I relit the three fires that had been burning on Tuesday and struggled to light a big pile of smashed up very green and very wet poplar wood.

This was a tree that the guys cut down last thing on Tuesday. Despite having the digger shovel pushing mightily on the tree it swung 90 degrees and nearly came down on the road. It was a biggish 25m  malevolent beast and nearly rotten all the way through the trunk. No one was hurt although the fence took a clattering.

Saw a nice green lizard at one of the other fires (extra)

The plumber also delivered the new copper guttering and down pipes (another extra). These are soldered? together in situ. Very expensive but much tougher than plastic when the hail is falling. And they do look the thing.

By the end of the day all four fires were merrily burning away (another extra). The field was a slippery mud lashup but I managed to stay upright. God knows what we will do with all this land but it is good to have cleared it.

A neighbour stopped by and said that all the hills around the house used to be clean and the paths easy to walk. Now it is largely an impenetrable jungle since so many people have left the very hard life on the land.

He also said he had seen wolves in the field we have cleared and that one day he saw them take a deer down by the stream. Blimey. That's more Tuscany than we'd bargained for.

I sometimes feel that if we were on Grand Designs Kevin McCloud (?) would now be doing his big windup speech about the tumble down house, the Italian dream, the rising budget, the frankly, if you ask me, clueless owners, and the difficulties with local contractors etc.

But really, despite many different layers and types of builders' dust and grit, it has been almost a doddle. Our main small firm our great, contractors come in when needed, architect and engineer keep an eye on the progress of the site, and everyone works so hard it is almost embarrassing. And everyone without exception is friendly and encouraging.

If only this abnormal wet and cold spring would dry up a bit so I could sashay forth with my new cultivator. But my time will surely come.