Christmas, Christmas, what a lovely Christmas...

Perhaps a bit early to start singing this lovely carol. But it was the song that immediately sprung to mind when I woke up this morning and opened the curtains...

Up here in the mountains the weather can truly change overnight, can't it? Yesterday we were still having a pleasant sunshine and you could almost walk about in a t-shirt. This morning however, there is 15cm of snow.

It may just be a coincidence, but... Today is also the day that my mother- and sister-in-law arrive. True, it isn't one and a half meter of snow like in March. But I can only conclude that my mother-in-law must have a truly amazing impact on the weather over here. Fortunately, she now already knows where to find the Sheraton airport hotel! Hehehe... :-)

Just kidding, mum,... Welcome to Italy! :-D

A new book

I really must be feeling better lately because I've just started writing a new book. And the good news is... It's like if the book is writing itself! Haven't you ever had this experience when you were writing something... a story, an essay or, why not, a book... and you just couldn't stop because you were having so much inspiration that you thought that you could keep writing for ever? This is exactly what is happening to me right now.

All in all this should not come as a surprise because, like you've certainly already noticed, our Italian adventure has turned out to be just hat - a very big adventure indeed.

The book begins just a short time before the point where my first book ended: buying a new home in Italy. It describes my final years at work and how my autism is slowly getting the better of me. And in the mean time the Italian dream matures and eventually we want to make it come true. With all the highs and lows in between. I'm already extremely happy with the first 25 pages and sincerely hope that my editor will be equally pleased.

In any case, let's see first whether my first book will become a success. I guess that if it has to be pulped my editor will not be jumping to the moon from joy when I present her the sequel... :-D

Getting prepared for winter

The winters up here in the mountains are usually short but can be quite severe, as you'll probably remember from the images I posted in March. One and a half a meter of snow! My mother in law and I believed we had arrived in Greenland rather than in Italy! It was so bad that Christine couldn't make it to the airport to pick us up because her car had been totally snowed in. So we had to spend the night at the airport Sheraton. But now we're not in the least bit worried that we'll freeze to death. :-) Last week two strong and friendly men came to cut the enormous pile of wood that came from the various trees Christine had cut down in order to give our house a bit more air. In just two hours all of the logs and branches were cut to a size that will easily fit the wood stove we've ordered...

It was very hard work but absolutely worth it. Now we'll probably have enough wood to heat up the house for years. In fact, the toughest job is to collect all the pieces and logs and stack them in the small adjacent building on our property. This used to be a pig stable, hen house and typical outdoors oven but nowadays it's in a pretty derilict state. Nonetheless, it has enough space for all of our wood and at least it will be dry. Just a couple of days more work and it will be done... Phew!

For the moment we're still heating on (expensive) gas, although we're astonished how little effort our heating system must do in order to make the entire house snug and warm. The special state-of-the-art floor heating system we've chosen will eventually save us a lot of money. Even though our garage now more resembles the boiler room of a steamboat... :-)

But the mortgage should be finalised by mid-December and then we'll finally be able to have the wood stove installed in our living room. As it will be connected to the central boiler, the wood will be the main source for heating and hot water. The boiler is insulated so well that it can keep the water at temperature for 24 hours!

And we'll certainly not be on our own this winter. A couple of days ago, in early morning, a family of roe deers came to visit us. Aren't they just lovely?

Halt! Private property!

When we bought our house and the generous plot of land that came with it, we were hoping to find some tranquility at last. But this tranquility is currently far away at times. I already told you about hunters some time ago. And today I'd like to have another go at them because I'm slowly getting fed up with their arrogant and uneducated ways. Before you ask, I'm a carnivore and since humanity has survived primarily on meat and fish for the last three million years I see no need why I should change. But there are limits and hunters should learn to respect not only animal rights but also the rights of the people who live in their "recreational area". In brief, the hunters over here show absolutely no respect at all for private property. Yes, they have the law at their side. In Italy you have to enclose your land with a fence of at least 1,20m high if you want to keep hunters out. Otherwise they have the right to roam as they like. This right, however, is not absolute. They are not to come within 100m from houses and domestic animals. Meaning that, technically speaking, they're not allowed to come into our field. Fence or not.

Unfortunately, as I already mentioned, I have to conclude that Italian hunters seem to have failed to evolve since the dawn of the neolithicum. It's temping to generalise but really, I still have to meet the first educated hunter. All the ones I've come across so far are careless, arrogant, rude and have a serious portion of raving insanity over them. Some even seem that old that it would surprise me if they'd still see the difference between a deer and a man at 100m anyway.

My problem now is that they don't care about the chains with the "private property" signs through which I've closed off every entry to our house and field. They just do as they please. They even pass right in front of our house! Through our terrace! And then there are the excuses...

- "But we're not doing any harm to anyone"

- "Our guns are still bagged up"

- "I'm just going downhill"

- "We haven't got any dogs"

or the following hilarious quote:

- "I didn't know that anyone lived here" (strange if you've just passed the new letterbox that Christine made, ignored the "private property" sign and you're standing in front of a restored house with curtains, terrace furniture and the whole lot.)

To my opinion, hunting should be left to professionals. People who know what they are doing and who only hunt in order to maintain the natural balance, given that there aren't enough natural predators anymore. But who am I of course...

On the optimist side, we haven't had as much trouble with hunters lately as at the start of the hunting season. Hopefully they're slowly beginning to understand that they have to keep away. Obviously, if you only have one braincell... Perhaps we should give them a bit more time... :-)

The colours of autumn

One more "picture of the day", taken from our bedroom window this morning. On moments like these, we realise that it has all been worth it...

Two unexpected visitors

Knock knock knock knock!!! I just came out of the shower when I heard someone banging on our front door. Christine was downstairs and she took the honours of opening it in order to see who came to disturb us during this lazy Tuesday afternoon. I immediately recognised two voices. They were two men whom I had hoped never to see again in my entire life: the Big Bad Wolf in person with the Nasty Little Man right behind him (hiding in his shade). They came to inspect this "so-called" water damage. Christine was more than happy to show them the moist inner walls. But as could be expected, they weren't impressed at all.

- "Of course there is water in your walls", the Big Bad Wolf said in his usual arrogant way, "it's the sub-floor that needs to dry. You'll see that it will disappear in no time."

- "The sub-floor???", Christine answered in astonishment, "But that was laid last July! How do you explain that this water has only appeared after the heavy rains we had four weeks ago? And how come we only have it in our corridor and not in the rest of our house?"

Silence.

- "Who laid these floor tiles?", the Nasty Little Man interrupted.

- "A very good expert", Christine said.

- "Well, it's obvious. The water from the subfloor can't get through the pointing of the pavement. So it has to go through the walls."

- "What??? Water can't get through the pointing???"

- "That's right!"

- "Besides", the Big Bad Wolf continued, "there is no standing water behind the house at all!"

- "I tell you there is..."

- "Listen, I've got my idea about this water and you've got yours. I just wanted to see it so that I'd know what to reply."

And away they went. Afterwards I went round the house because after two days of rain I'd have been surprised not to find any standing water there. And indeed, at first sight there wasn't any. The pool of water was covered in leaves.

We'll see whether his explanation about the sub-floor will still hold up in court... :-)

P.S.: This sub-floor was dry after a day already (meaning you could already walk on it) and was exposed to the summer heat for weeks. The tiles and windows weren't installed until weeks later. It's so obvious that again he is trying to intimidate us.

P.P.S: Oh... I almost forgot to mention the juiciest detail! The Big Bad Wolf literally said that it wasn't his responsibility anyway because Christine had sacked him in February while the drainage works hadn't been completed until months later. But... dear Mr. Big Bad Wolf... You did have your sollicitor write in his accusation that you had resigned yourself in April and that the works you had executed included "proper drainage around the house to the benefit of the entire structure". It's one of the most important items which contribute to your exuberant €13.000,- claim. So... How do you explain that???

Out... out with the telescope!

It's been more than four months since I moved to Italy. To a place where the sky is still virtually unpolluted by useless streetlights. Where I live, the Milky Way is still a clear and soft veil across the night's sky. Isn't it a real shame then that I've never bothered to put my telescope together again to take it out for a night's observing? Last week I finally did it! I really must be feeling better... :-)

The things I saw were just amazing. You can't believe what a difference a decent sky makes compared to the wishy-washy, dirty orange-glowing smog we get in Flanders (and I suppose in most of the rest of Europe too)? The faint nebulae were so much brighter... starclusters so much more scintillating... Jupiter showed so much more detail...

Around midnight the moon rose above the horizon which meant the end of a wonderful evening under the stars. I just can't wait for the next clear night! Apparently they've forcast fair weather for the next couple of days... :-D