Ms Gray's feeling for suspense

What a frustrating day waiting for the release of the Sue Gray report on the No.10 and other lockdown parties. In my other ear I was listening to the third day of voting for the Italian president - which could not be of more consequence. And it is not going well. And not far in the background is Ukraine.

All of this while pulling ivy off one of our many terrace walls.

The fine cold weather has broken but the sun shone as a heavy bank of cloud settled on the mountains.

Re the Gray report it has been weird just how little information has come out. Apparently the handover to Johnson was delayed by last minute checks - which given Gray's reputation for thoroughness - sounds dodgy. Others suggested it might be due to having to discipline individual wrong doers but - again - Gray doesn't sound like the sort of person who would not have taken this into her account even if it were her role to do this.

My sense is of delaying tactics from Johnson's circle to try and take some of the steam out of the situation, (whilst of course denying this) or for some other event to come along and distract us all.

Tim Shipman's piece at the weekend in the ST suggested Johnson is subject to wild emotional swings at the moment as he tries out different lines of defence. I really hope the report comes out tomorrow otherwise we will be kept on tenterhooks until Monday.

In Italy the politics of the succession of SergioMattarella (80) the current president are very tricky. If PM Draghi (74) becomes president (the term is for 7 years) the delicate broad government of almost national unity may fracture. If he doesn't get elected he may feel that his authority has been compromised by the contest and resign.

The EU Recovery fund allocated to Italy (€191bn) is crucial for the country's  future  and for that to work and not be wasted or withdrawn stable government and determination to reform many parts of the system are essential.

There is little unity between the parties on who should be the next president and an arcane voting system where each of the thousand voters (elected representatives, senators for life and regional reps) writes the person they want to be president on a piece of paper to be dropped in a real urn, or leaves the paper blank (which is happening a lot), means it is hard to predict voting and corral wayward party members.

As one commentator said, 'None of the party leaders have sufficient votes to get their choice unassisted and they are all terrified of being stabbed in the back by their rivals."  Or putative allies.

Tomorrow the quorum for electing the president goes from a two thirds majority to a simple majority.  I think the record number of rounds of voting to select a president is twenty seven.

As one wag said on the radio: 'Go figure. It takes us twenty minutes to choose a pizza, twenty hours to resolved a condominium meeting and six months to decide on a holiday destination. If we take a week or two selecting a president what's the problem.'

But clearly it is a problem.