The Carù National Observatory

Hahahahaaa... Spring is in the air, the sun is shining brightly, the birds are singing... My whole body is awakening and above all, the part that wants to... construct something! And let us hope, without cutting in my hands this time... So, what could I make? A whopping 25" telescope? Ai... Christine throws the frying pan at my head and only misses me by a hair. OK, I cancel the telescope... for now... But what else could I do then? I've already finished the henhouse. The porch next to our house perhaps? Forbidden because Christine says that needs to be done "professionally", and she's probably right. What could I do... what could I do... my hands are itching...
- "Hey! Where are you going to?", Christine shouts at me.
- "I'm going to construct an observatory!"
- "But... an observatory??? And where exactly???"
- "Right there!", I say with a lot of pride in my voice, pointing at the top of the crest in our field.
- "There???", she responds in horror, "Straight in the middle of the view from our terrace??? No, it can't be true!"
- "But where do I have to make it then?"
- "A lot further away from our house! A lot!"
There's nothing more to do. Whatever Christine says is law. I walk about twenty yards further into the field.
- "Here?"
- "No! Still way too close!"
- "But... if I go even further, I'll be in that wood over there!"
- "That's fine with me!"
At this point there is a slight argument which I won't mention here because it is not intended for the faint-hearted. And because we're still "Belgians" (for the moment still), we make a compromise that is no good for noone but which assures a kind of armed peace. I can construct my observatory where I'm standing, and she can put a large tree in front of our house. You can imagine that I have always violently resisted this tree when I still wanted to observe the heavens from in front of our house. But since I can soon look at the stars from my observatory in the field, this tree doesn't matter at all to me anymore.
- "And you can put a nice climbing rose against my observatory. That way it'll not disturb the view as much."
Ah... I'm so brilliant, aren't I? I know exactly how to move my dear wife in the right direction.
- "OK... allright...", she says with a bit of doubt, "but first I want to know how much it will cost."
So, I start making a plan so I can give her an estimate:

On this page you can see the front of the observatory/shed, with a big double door 1,6m wide and 2,3m high. Big enough for my future 25" Obsession telescope. But Christine doesn't know that yet... :-)

In order to lower the cost even further, I've already begun to make a foundation which will cost us nothing at all. After the restoration of our house there was still some cement and sand left and in our field there was an entire pile of old terracotta tiles which we can't use anymore in the house itself. But they'll make an excellent observing terrace. I would have preferred to make it in wood, like teak or bankirai, because wood doen't absorb the heat as much and will create less turbulences inside the telescope. But this owuld cost us a fortune and above all, I'm having serious doubts about the origin of tropical wood.
So I started putting a layer or two of tiles to stabilise the ground a bit:

Then, I made the final layer on a dry mixture of sand and cement:

This is where I am at the moment:

Oh... I just can't wait to put my telescope there... :-)

Next week I hope to be able to get started on the shed itself but it's going to be bad weather for the next couple of days. Soooo frustrating...

We've won the first battle of the war!

"When will I get my money?"

It's last Thursday evening. Christine and I were enjoying a DVD, when all of a sudden Christine's mobile bleeped, indicating that she had received an SMS. Oh dear, Nasty Little Nezio was after his money again. Hadn't he warned us that if he hadn't been paid by the end of December, he'd take "further steps"? Well, if "further steps" means sending us an angry SMS every once and a while... that's ok with us. :-D We're actually beginning to find it amusing. At first Christine thought it wise not to respond. But then she changed her mind and wrote:

"When you'll finally reply to our sollicitor's letter."

By doing so, she thought she could kill two birds with a single stone. One, to shut him up for good, and two, to have him put something on paper we could use against him. Ah... isn't she a genius?

"So... is this how you want to play it? I thought that Danilo and I had come to visit you in order to work something out!", he still replied.

But we left it at that. The DVD was far too exciting and his text message was only a bad joke. It hardly brought a grin to our face. "Work something out"... huh! Did he really mean that? He's even more daft than we imagined. And that was already very high on the fruitcake-scale! Besides, our funny friend Nezio still hasn't got a clue about what else we have in store for him. Our sollicitor had already contacted an expert to come to our house and have a look at the damages. About time too because the water problem is getting worse. The man was shocked by what he saw and didn't leave a shred of doubt that it is caused by bad or non-existent drainage.

"I'll come back within a couple of days with my wife, who also is a geometer, to take some pictures", he said and advised us: "Don't pay a single penny to anyone for now!"

Something which we weren't going to do anyway, so we liked his advice very much. He also asked us to make a hole behind the house so he and his wife could see actually how deep this so-called drainage was laid. I was about half a metre down when I found this:

You can see that I arrived at the gravel with which the "drainage" is covered. And with the gravel I found something which can rightly be called an underground lake. The more I removed the gravel by hand, the more standing water I found. Obviously this is the ground water level and when this level rises during moist days, it enters our foundations. When we've had a dry period such as the past two weeks, the level drops and our internal walls dry up again. Obviously, the "drainage" doesn't work at all! We have this Nasty Little... and Big Bad Danilo by the $ù=#(µ!!! The way things are looking now, it seems to become more likely that Danilo and co will have to pay us a lot more in damages than what they are still claiming from us.

When our sollicitor came to visit us with the expert, she even had more good news for us. The Rovigo judge has concurred with our argument that he isn't competent in this case and that it should be transferred to the court at the buyer's residence. He'll make his final verdict on... THE 12th OF DECEMBER!!! Well, err... if you must... :-D It's that 80-year old animal-mistreating bitch that's after her money, not us. We can wait... and wait... and wait... And so can little Flora! :-D

Back to school

This must be the first of September, the day that in Belgium the schools reopen after the summer holidays. The sun is shining brightly in the deep blue sky, but it's a bit chillier so this must be autumn indeed. I put my school books in my bag, together with a new pen and a new notebook, give Christine a last hug, and off I go. Back to school...

I arrive at ten 'o clock, perfectly on time (yes, today there are special hours...) and one of the assistents immediately directs me to my new class, being the third grade of the "scuola media". That's a bit disappointing because I had hoped to still have a bit of time to adjust myself to my new life at school, but unfortunately I wasn't granted any respite. I was pushed into the lion's den right away. The worst thing of it all was that this time I wouldn't have to sit in class, where I could blend very well into the background. No, this time I'd have to stand in front of it! And from personal experience I know very well what a handful 14 year-old kids can be. Then again, they say that poachers make the best game keepers so if that were true I should be more than allright. :-D Mara was already standing there too and she immediately pointed at the centre of the stage, meaning that I should do the main act this morning. That's what I was already afraid of, but I didn't have any choice. Twenty pairs of eyes were staring at me with big interest (perhaps the kind of interest cats display when they're looking at little birds?). I took a big sigh...

- "Goodmorning! I'm Peter!"

- "Goodmorning Peter!", all the kids shouted back at me most enthusiastically. Hmmm... that already went well, didn't it?...

I briefly introduced myself and then asked all of the children to introduce themselves too. I added some extra questions like "Have yo got any brothers or sisters?" or "What are your hobbies?" so that nobody would get away as easily as to just state their name. Then the tables were turned and the students were allowed to ask me as many questions as they liked. To my surprise I was quickly getting the hang of things and it felt again like more than twenty years ago when I was teaching Astronomy to children of about the same age. I truly enjoyed standing there in front of the class. Perhaps it was partly because of my urge for attention, something my disability often provokes and usually to my detriment. But mostly I felt glad that I could do something for those children. To help them and possibly even to give them a brighter future because obviously a decent knowledge of English will become ever more important. It's such a rewarding experience... Perhaps I also have to admit that due to my disability, deep inside, I have always remained a bit of a child, which in this case would be an advantage. It makes it easier to relate to the children, and vice versa. Yes, I truly felt that they considered me as "one of their own" in stead of "one of the teachers". The hour flew past and in the end the children all stood up and gave me a warm applause. I humbly bowed at such a token of appreciation. I felt deeply moved...

In this class there were a couple of children who were a bit behind of the rest. Some of them because they're a bit slower and need an extra bit of attention; but one had only just arrived from Macedonia and one even from Brazil. The Brazilian boy came to Mara and me in order to ask if I wouldn't give him a couple of private lessons because he was so eager to learn. I discussed this with him, Mara and another teacher who's responsible for looking after the kids who need the extra attention and I said that if there would be four or five children interested that I could do this for only a few Euros per lesson each. To me it doesn't matter if I have to spend the hour in front of two or five children, and five still isn't too much so that not everyone would get the personal attention required. All we still need to look into is a venue because Busana is more than a half an hour's drive. Perhaps if we could find something half-way we could go ahead with the idea.

Mara and I were about to say goodbye when I looked into the classroom of the second grade. All of the children were looking at me through the open door and making gestures like thumbs up and funny waves. I asked Mara if she didn't want me to briefly say "hello" to those children as well. And she immediately replied that it would be a wonderful idea. So there I went again. I immediately noticed that the class of the second grade was a lot more "lively" than the third, where most students were a bit shy. Not in this class! There were three or four real rascals here, but the "nice" kind though. :-)

- "If you could already introduce yourself", Mara suddenly told me, "then I can pop out for five minutes or so because I have to do something urgent."

- "Huh???"

There I was... all alone at the mercy of these children. After five minutes she indeed returned, briefly, just to see that I was doing allright and then leaving me alone for the rest of the hour! Well, there was absolutely nothing to be worried about. I introduced myself and they did the same. Then they started asking me questions. Lots of questions. Whether I liked "womans". I corrected the smartass and wrote "women" on the blackboard, stressing its correct pronunciation. I asked the entire class to repeat and they happily did. "Women" rolled like a thunder throughout the school building! I replied that I liked one "woman" in particular and again they enthusiastically repeated me. Then I threw the ball back at the smartass and asked him whether he liked women.

- "Yes!", he said, "Pamela Anderson!" :-D

- "But... she's old!", I replied, "she's even older than I am!" And then I mimed what happens when you've had a facelift and you're having trouble laughing. The kids thought it was hilarious. Obviously I wasn't going to demonstrate what else dear Pamela had already had lifted... :-D

Throughout the question session I also got to explain the expression "used to". Which turned out to be most helpful during the rest of the class because when someone asked me whether I liked Michael Jackson, I could explain that he used to be a singer. But not anymore. Because he's... dead (making cut-throat gesture). Obviously none of the kids were going to admit that they ever used to play with dolls or teddybears, although one of them was ready to admit that he used to play with Lego stones. "But not now!!!", he immediately added, "I'm playing with a Playstation now!" Well, they thought it was funny to hear me confess that I used to play with Lego as well...

Again the hour was over when I though it had only just started. The kids applauded even louder, if at all possible, than those of the third grade and they were begging me to stay. Mara came in and explained that this would not be possible. She had asked the head master for a few hours for the second class also, but the budget wouldn't allow it. After all, it's only a small school. I proposed that I would do the second class for free then. After all, what's most important for me is to give something back to the community, for as much as I can. This experience was so rewarding that I truly wouldn't mind doing it for free. And if I could do it on the same day as my lessons for the third grade, so much the better. Mara promised she'd take my offer back to the head master and let me know. Although she added that it may create a legal problem because normally, as a "third person", there are strict conditions before someone can stand in front of a class. But about twenty minutes later she already called me to say that the head master had agreed and that he wanted to thank me for my generosity. Well... How about that?... Again, I felt so deeply moved.

So that's it. I'm going to be an assistant English teacher at the Busana school and next year my hours will probably be doubled. But that's not all. In the evening I got a call from Cosetta's aunt, who used to be an English teacher but who's now slowly retiring. Whether I wouldn't be interested to take a similar position in a school in Casina. Of course I would! Five minutes later the head master of the Casina school called me to offer me a twenty hour contract! The nice thing is that it would be four hours for five saturdays in a row, saving me a lot of driving over and back. Tomorrow I'll be going to Casina to meet the head master and to discuss the details.

Slowly things are moving, aren't they? Oh... I'm so happy... :-)

Teaching English - Part 2

You'll remember that half-December I received a phonecall from an English teacher of a local secondary school, offering me a part-time job? Well, from thereon I hadn't heard a peep anymore. Slowly I began to wonder whether it had all been merely a dream and I was getting a bit disappointed. I had been looking forward to this opportunity so much... Anyway, I wasn't going to give up that easily and last week I drove to that school in person in order to find out if the offer was real and if it was still standing.

The school is situated in the lovely little town of Busana. In direct it's only a couple of miles from our house. But unfortunately there isn't any direct road and in all it took me over half an hour in order to get there. That's because I have to cross the Secchia valley and there are only two bridges nearby, both of which take me to a totally different direction. But the sun was shining brilliantly again (actually, today we've got 25° in the sun!) and the road is just stunningly beautiful. When you're used to the nice, straight roads of the Flemish countryside, these winding mountain trails may come as a little shock. At first they seem tedious and nerve-wrecking. But as soon as you discover the beauty of the landscape you're cruising through, it becomes a totally different story and half an hour seems to go by in a whizz. The school is a reasonably modern building in red brick and all seemed perfectly quiet. I parked the car and walked to the entrance, where a man kindly greeted me. I explained who I was and asked if the job offer was still standing. The man turned out to be the head master and he told me that only Mara, the English teacher who had phoned me, would be able to tell me. He confirmed that there was indeed a project going on where they would ask a native English speaker to assist in class for a 16-hour contract, divided between this school and their subsidiary in Ramiseto. He gave me Mara's phone number and urged me to give her a call the following day, as she wasn't present at school at the time.

And so I did. Mara turned out to be the same enthusiastic person I spoke to over a month ago and I stressed how much I would love to take the job. But... there had been an unfortunate coincidence. Her Ramiseto colleague had already offered the job to another English speaker, without having informed her. But on the bright side, she would try to divide the offer between the two, so I'd get 8 hours in Busana and the other person 8 hours in Ramiseto. It only seemed fair that way. She also asked me to drop by at her house to discuss the matter in greater detail.

When I arrived, Mara was already waving at me from the door. She greeted me like if I was a king and kindly invited me in. She asked me about my past and about our decision to come and live in Italy. From her side, she told me that she had graduated from University twenty years ago and confessed that her English had suffered a lot since then because she hadn't had any serious conversations in this language anymore. As a student she still regularly visited London. But after that she had always remained in Italy. She also confessed that with the children in class you could still easily get away with an error but she realised that this was not the proper thing to do. I was very impressed about that because at least she admitted that she had a problem and was prepared to do something about it. Much unlike the teacher of the boy I'm still giving private courses to who insists that you have to pronounce "key" as "kay" and when asked "How are you?" you should just reply "Fine" and that "I'm fine, thank you" is actually wrong! Mara also told me that since my visit to the school the teachers are constantly talking about me and they would be so happy if I were to take the job! :-) So the first impression I made must have been quite positive. I also explained some of the ideas I had about teaching the children, with the aid of games such as trivia, "who am I?", snakes and ladders, role-playing games etc. and Mara was thrilled about this idea. In the end, she asked if I wouldn't be interested in giving a small refresher course to her and anoter colleague of her, which I gladly accepted.

So now the contract is signed. I officially have a job! :-) Oh... there was just one minor misunderstanding... It's not 8 hours a week. It's 8 hours for the rest of the school year, so only one hour a week from the beginning of March onwards. But that's allright. It's a start, isn't it? And most probably I'll get the Ramiseto class as from the next school year as well.

Mara urged me to go and talk to other schools as well, which I did. I already went to Carpineti's secondary school and also there I received a very warm welcome. Especially when I heard the primary school children practise the English alphabet out loud and commented to one of the secretaries how good they were at it. The secretary immediately went upstairs to the children and came back down with a little, black girl by her hand. The girl was obviously shy and held a big plastic bag full of sweets firmly against her chest. Oh... she was so adorable, with her hair tied in all these little tails. I asked her how she was (in English) and she replied with a frail voice: "I'm fine, thank you". Then I asked her about her name and she said, so faintly I could hardly hear it, that her name was Deborah. Then, she offered me the bag. I said (in total amazement) "Oh... is this for me???". She nodded. So when at the same moment the head master asked me to step into her office for a chat, I was still holding the entire bag of sweets. That should've gone down well as a first impression also. :-D In the end, I returned the bag because I wouldn't want to rob these little children of their sweets of course.

One thing's for sure: I'm definitely going to find my way in my new home country. Not that I intend to work full-time again because I've learnt the hard way that this will be impossible for me. But I'm still going to contribute to society as much as I can.

The Italian judicial system

Yesterday was a very big day for us, and more specifically for our little Flora. We were summoned to go all the way to Rovigo, a two and a half hours' drive, because the judge wanted to see me in person. You may recall that the malignant cow who sold us little Flora was a bit upset about me asking (and receiving) my money back through VISA because to me (and also to VISA) it was a clear case of internet fraud. The most important victim of which was a poor little kitten, almost starved to death and with a severe infection on her lungs, nose and eyes. "Well, if half of the truckload of kittens coming from Hungary dies, that's just too bad. As long as enough survive which I can sell for an exuberant price via our fraudulent websites". Yes, you read it right. In the mean time I've discovered no less than four different websites, possibly more, all from the same vendor and all showing the same, heartbreaking pictures and clips of the most adorable pups and kittens. I've decided to name and shame them after all, hoping that this message will spread and that this horrific animal trade will be rooted out. Idle hope, I know, but doing nothing would be even worse, wouldn't it?

http://www.vendita-cuccioli.com/

http://www.venditacaniegatti.com/

http://www.venditacuccioli.com/

http://www.vendita-cuccioli-caniegatti.com/ (now all of a sudden closed)

So as I was saying, Christine and I drove all the way down there, to arrive at the local courthouse. "Courthouse" is in fact a bit exaggerated because it was just the first floor in what rather looked like an appartment building. The only things that betrayed its true nature were the Italian and European flags which were proudly decorating the façade. By the front door we saw Floriano, one of our two sollicitors, making a call on his mobile. We had been a bit surprised that both of them would be present here because also for them it was a long drive. Well, as long as the other party will be paying the bill... :-D Sabrina, our other sollicitor, warmly greeted us when we arrived on the first floor and explained that it was better that they'd also appear in person, rather than to hire a local sollicitor for this session. The judge had after all summoned both parties "in person". Then again, we were in for a little shock. The corridor on the first floor was absolutely packed. Sabrina told us that our case was number 66 in line, whereas they had only just begun case number 34! We had anticipated on a little wait, even though the invitation had carried a specific time. But the way things were going, we would be standing here until nightfall. Oh bother... Sabrina tried to console us by telling that this is mostly what a sollicitor's life in Italy is all about: waiting. By a strange coincidence, the police had chosen the very same morning to present all of the pending fines to the judge. In Italy there's no such thing as a "police judge"; a person who only deals with traffic fines and incidents. All traffic cases are presented to a common civil judge, who in this case happened to be ours. And it goes without saying that all of these fines took presedence over our case. Grumble... The only wicked sort of amusement we got was staring at the faces of the people coming out of the judge's office. Most of them looked as if they'd just done the latrine's job in a major pig stable. Their noses pulled up high and their mouths closed so hard that their lips went all white.

We had been ordered to be there at 11:40, but by 01:00 we were still standing there, together with a whole bunch of other people who still had to present their civil case. The judge, obvioulsy concerned about his lunchbreak, then ordered all the remaining people in at once. It didn't look very good but Sabrina and Floriano assured us that they would press the judge to still hear our case. After all, we had come all the way down here on his orders. Alhough Sabrina wondered how the judge could still be all ears to our story if he had just had a hell of a morning with about 70 traffic cases to do.

The judge's office was, well, like a normal office. It certainly wasn't the sort of court hall that one could expect. Needless to say that when all of the remaining people were in, there was hardly any room left to breathe. The judge put the files of all of the remaining civil cases on a big pile on his desk and started to call all of them, in order to see who was still there. About half of them turned out to have already gone out for lunch! The remaining half were then divided between urgent and not so urgent. Meaning, to be postponed until March or some even until September! "My agenda is totally full", he apologised. Well, if it had to be September also for our case, personally I wouldn't mind. It's that wicked bitch who wanted her money, not me. Although we're still hoping to have all of the veterinary expenses refunded of course.

With those non-urgent cases out of the way, he still had half an hour to deal with all of the rest. "I'll continue until half past and that's it", he said.

So all of us had to go out again and wait for our turn. In the mean time Sabrina had already pointed out the vendor's sollicitor to us. A nasty old, little man; exactly the sort of person who'd make the kinds of remarks that we found in his reply to our defence. But there was another interesting detail: the vendor herself hadn't shown up, even though also she had been summoned. This normally shouldn't go down too well with the judge. I had been looking around to all of the women I saw, wondering who it would be. She certainly wouldn't be very young because setting up the whole animal trade business would take a certain amount of time. And it had to be a person without a heart. I can't imagine any other person doing the things she does for a living without the slightest sense of remorse. In the end I asked Sabrina if she could find the lady's age in the file. And indeed she could. Apparently, the vendor was born in... 1931!!! That bitch was eighty years old!!! Sabrina grinned that she'd probably provided her sollicitor with a medical note so she wouldn't have to appear. I said that perhaps they'd have to wheel her in on a wheelchair. Christine on the other hand wondered how such an old lady could still be running such a big business. Obviously she'd still be in charge on paper but leave the running itself to someone younger, like the nasty man who had delivered our Flora. In any case, even if she'd only be responsible on paper, that's exactly what she is and she'll have to bleed for what she did (and is still doing to other unfortunate animals).

Finally, at 13:25, it was our turn. We all went in apart from Christine. The case was started against me personally so she wasn't allowed to take any part. The judge began by saying that this was a "compromise" meeting. Sabrina immediatly intervened that if this were so, we hadn't been informed about any possible "compromise" by the other party. The judge said that in that case he'd propose fifty-fifty, which neither I nor the nasty sollicitor could accept.

- "If that cat were really half-dead as you claim, then why didn't you inform my client about it?", he said in a very arrogant way.

- "As a matter of fact I did", I replied, "I've tried to contact her for days on end!"

- "That's a lie", he said.

- "No it is not!", I replied and Sabrina added that we have copies of the e-mails to prove it.

The nasty sollicitor went on and started speaking to the judge.

- "That man", pointing at me, "just wanted to buy a cat from my client without paying 5 bloody Lire for it! If he's truly so unhappy, then he should give the cat back."

I was perplexed. How low can anyone go? As if Flora is just a stupid cupboard! A heartless stone which you can chuck away if you grow tired of it! This was indeed the "compromise" he proposed.

- "And what about all the medical expenses then?", Sabrina also mentioned. The other sollicitor didn't care to reply. Sabrina took the conversation back to the heart of the matter we wanted to discuss here. The European consumer's law stipulates that, unless otherwise agreed, any dispute following a purchase should be treated by the court at the buyer's residence.

- "Can you believe that?", the nasty sollicitor intervened, laughing and looking at the judge, "They'd want this case to be treated in Belgium!" He shook his head in mockery.

- "Or in Castelnovo ne' Monti", Sabrina went on without paying any attention to that prat, "the court where our client now resides."

The judge, clearly tired and unmotivated, said that he wouldn't take any decision now and that he'd let us know. He typed the names of the people present in his computer and added a note about our sollicitor's claim about the transfer of competence to either Belgium or Castelnovo. He would let us know as soon as possible. And we were sent out again.

Now we'll have to wait once more. Probably for months, but I don't care. Sabrina said that technically the judge wouldn't have any other choice than to declare himself "incompetent" in this matter and to pass the case on to Castelnovo. This would already be a big blow to the vendor. Sabrina added that she'd then have a word with the Castelnovo judge, apparently a good lady with a heart for animals, and that she'd have high hopes. Although she warned us that the Rovigo judge might still decide to keep the case at his court and that he may summon me again. Perhaps - if he's really stupid - to treat the entire case and at the end declare that he's incompetent after all so the whole thing will have to be done over again by another court. It's like looking at teabags for the moment.

But in any case, I'm not afraid. And above all, NOONE will ever take our Flora away from us. Even if we have to send her temporarily to Flanders or whatever. She's OUR little baby now and we'll never allow anyone to take her away. We love her with all of our hearts and she loves us back at least just as much. Every evening while we're in front of the telly she comes jumping on our laps, rolling about and thoroughly enjoying our caresses and the brushing of her tummy with a special cat brush. Oh yes, she definitely loves her daily beauty treatment! :-) And isn't she a beauty indeed?

Busy busy busy...

Oh... I'm so sorry that I neglected my blog for a while. The thing is that Christine and I are so busy for the time being. Much of this has to do with the strict deadline that Christine set for the opening of her B&B. She wants to be completely ready by April and there are still so many things to be done. Moreover, we'll receive her sister's family for a break early March, so already by then most of the work should already be finished. It's going to be tight!

To make things even more hectic, Christine and I've started to grow our own ideas about what "being ready" implies. When we were having such fine weather last week, I felt I had to start building my own observatory. Yes, you read it correctly. With all of the original floortiles of our house, which have been laying about in our field for more than a year now, I've started making a foundation of 4 by 7 metres. This should be big enough for a shed in which to store my precious telescope, king-size binoculars and other astronomy stuff, plus allow for a sizeable terrace, or rather, observatory platform. But more about that later.

Christine on the other hand, thought it would be absolutely necessary to make a special box in which our hens would be able to lay their eggs in comfort. I already finished the henhouse in September (see picture below) but according to Christine chickens prefer a more "confined" space to brood...

So she made a covered box out of scrap wood. Yes, Christine admitted that it does look a bit "antique" as she put it, but the hens definitely seemed to love it, as you can see...

In fact, from thereon they always lay their little eggs in the box! :-)

Christine was also preoccupied with our kitchen. For the moment we only had the "structure" of the cupboards made because we don't have any money for proper doors. Christine thought that as a temporary solution she could make a couple of curtains instead. But now that she's finished them, we are inclined to make that "temporary" solution a lot more permanent. What do you think?...

Please don't mind the drawer on the left because I still have to finish a front for that...

Now as I was saying, the weather last week was pretty much like an early summer. But two days later we had... HALF A METRE of snow!!! It's just amazing! In two days time from over 20° (in the sun) to 0°! Which meant that I had to abandon my observatory project temporarily. Which also led Christine to remind me of something much more "important" (what does she know... :-) ) I still had to do: making the website of her B&B. I already showed you a couple of trials I had made some time ago, none of them really satisfactory. So I started over from scratch and this time Christine is extremely pleased with my work. She absolutely wanted a flying bird on it, so she got a flying bird - which I didn't copy from the web but honestly created myself. The attached AVI file is giving you a glimpse of the title page, without the buttons or pictures. Its quality isn't near as good as the original Flash file (which "Blogger" refused to accept) but I hope you like it.

Who says we'll be cold???

"You'll always be cold in that house! You just wait and see! You'll never be able to heat it up properly!", a certain idiot once told us. Not coincidentally the same idiot who was responsible back then for making the house habitable and who had assured us at the time of purchase that we had found "a rare jewel" which would become a real "dreamhome".

So when winter came, we were anxiously waiting for the cold to kick in, carefully wrapped up under a pile of blankets. But one after the other we had to throw these blankets away because it felt we were living in a sauna, rather than an igloo. The materials we used during the restoration obviously had something to do with that, as did the state-of-the-art floor heating system. But since this week, we won't have to burn any expensive propane anymore either. Yes... Dopey Dwarf returned! Since he received his money last month, he's one and all flattering and kindness! How's that for a change?

After two days' work, our brand new wood stove is connected to the central heating and hot water system, which means that we are now virtually independent! With the enormous supply of wood that we've collected from our grounds, we are good for at least a couple of years to come. The chimney still has to be finished with plasterboard, but what do you think of our stove? :-)

What do you think we did this morning???

We've had... (NO, YOU PERVERTS, NOT THAT! :-D )... breakfast outdoors! This morning when we stuck our sleepy heads outside, we thought that we were still dreaming because it felt like early summer. Yes, you read it correctly, summer and not spring. So we had our first breakfast on our terrace of 2011! With locally made ham, and delicious honey and marmelade from one of our friends.

What do you think of that? I even had to take off my sweater because it was too warm! Christine immediately took her mobile and rang Cosetta, asking her the same question about what we were doing. When she heard, she almost went ape! She's spending the winters in the valley, just like most Italians, and only comes up here in the mountains when she opens her B&B in April. But down there it is cold and there's an unpleasant, thick fog! Unbelievable, isn't it? Well, she was very happy for us anyway.

Also Christine couldn't resist making a photographic composition...

The meeting with our sollicitor

Since things are going so well with us lately, one would almost forget that we're still involved in two courtcases. Last week we met with our (very good!) sollicitor in order to find out how things are going on the legal front.

As far as the case is concerned that the seller of our little Flora started against us, a first hearing was held last month at the court near the vendor's residence. The judge heard the two sides of the story and scheduled a second hearing, where we should be present as well, on the 31st of January. In the mean time we've received the response from the vendor's sollicitor to our defence. It's in one word: shameful. Our sollicitor said that this guy really doesn't show any respect and that is obvious when you read his letter. He says i.a. that I "only wanted to make a good impression on my wife, if that is really what she is, giving her a kitten without having to pay a single € for it" and "if the kitten truly was not the one I wanted and if it really was in such a bad way, why did we keep it?" I'm not sure about you but this is so respectless. Well, I suppose that's just what certain sollicitors do. I won't lose a night's sleep over it.

But now comes the good part. The vendor made the big mistake of not removing my e-mail address from her contacts. That's why I received a rather stunning e-mail from her, addressed to all of her clients, the day after this hearing. It said that the website will be closed with immediate effect and that she had opened a new one, under a different name, where the esteemed clients would receive an even better service and blablabla. I checked and it's true. The day after the hearing the website shut down, without even leaving a link to the new one (where she also upped the prices BTW)! If that isn't a sign that she's getting the impression that things are going pear-shaped for her... :-D Oh... I'm not going to mention the new website here. It's not worthy of your click.

And then there is the case the Big Bad Wolf started. The first hearing for this one was scheduled last Friday, also probably just to hear the two sides of the story and to determine a date for further proceedings. Two noteworthy items to mention, though:

1. The Big Bad Wolf is all of a sudden willing to settle. His sollicitor proposed LESS THAN HALF of what they originally claimed as settlement. Which we haven't accepted yet. We believe that we'll be able to settle for a whole lot less still.

2. The Big Bad Wolf, nor the Nasty Little Man have yet responded to our sollicitor's letter regarding the water in our walls. The NLM did send Christine a text message, asking about his money. To which Christine replied: "I will be able to tell you when you'll get your money when you tell me what you're going to do about this water problem". To which he replied: "The water is coming in through the gas tube (???) so deal with it yourself". Obviously both gentlemen are in a bit of trouble about what to put on paper regarding this water issue. Whathever they reply, they'll either incriminate themselves or demonstrate their total incompetence.

So that's it. And today I went for a nice evening walk in the vicinity of our house. The weather is exceptionally mild, whereas two days ago the temperatures were still around 0 and the roads were covered in ice. Today you could almost walk about in a T-shirt! The following picture and panorama were taken from a spot about 1km from our front door. Oh... I'm feeling so happy... :-)

The eclipse

This morning there was a solar ecplise! Unfortunately not a total one; for that treat you had to go to Poland, Hungary or the Ukraine. But nevertheless, here in northern Italy the sun would be eclipsed for about 75% so well-worth getting up early. Around 8:30 that is... ;-) I grabbed the camera and went out, immediately followed by Blu, Thomas and Flora. Whenever Christine or I go out, so do they because they just love playing outside and even more so when we're around. It was a pity that there were a lot of high clouds. But here and there some blue appeared so I was having high hopes to get at least a glance of the eclipse. In the mean time, when I was waiting in the freezing cold, I already took a picture of another interesting phenomenon. I'm not sure what kind of strange turbulences caused these bird-like clouds but they were truly fascinating! Pity the picture doesn't really show these clouds in 3D because they were absolutely stunning. Also note the vail of cloudiness covering the summit of Mount Cusna!

Just when my toes wanted to tell me that they were reaching critical temperature, the sunrays broke through the cloud cover and I managed to take this picture of the eclipse being more or less near its maximum. It's a bit hazy but clear enough.

And then quickly back inside for a mug of hot tea!

Bingo!

The day before yesterday, a local friend of ours invited us to the yearly Sologno bingo night. Sologno being the village, or better the metropole, where Danilo and his clan are in charge and where Christine and I stayed during our first months in Italy. Every Italian town worthy of this name has a so-called "pro loco", a committee which organises just about every social get together. Such as this bingo night. The Sologno pro loco people think, let's just say, a bit high of themselves because they're such good friends or even family with the Apenninian mob boss. But Christine thought it would be fun to go there nonetheless; even if it's just to participate in the Italian social life and to be together with our many friends over here, who were also going to the event. I, on the other hand, was quite reluctant to go because I've never been good at social venues and certainly now I wouldn't be able to cope very well. It's all become a bit too much for me and the thought of all these many people cramped together in a reasonably small hall frightened me a lot. So I asked Christine if she wouldn't mind going there by herself. Of course I didn't want to force her to stay at home with me. She's a very sociable lady and I realise that she needs to get out from time to time. It's something that I wouldn't want to take away from her because having to live together with an autistic man must already be more than demanding enough.

- "Bring back the big prize!", I told her, just before she went.

- "You can rest assured of that", she replied with a big smile.

And off she went, into the lion's den.

A couple of hours later she returned home with an even bigger smile. I immediately sussed that she hadn't just been enjoying the evening out. Oh no! There was this twinkling sparkle in her eyes that told me that she hadn't come home empty-handed. Suddenly, she brought her right hand from behind her back and showed me this...

Can you actually believe that she had won one of the main prizes??? :-D The leading ladies of the pro loco apparently went green of frustration and jealousy! It can't be... Not that bloody Christine again!!! Hehehe... Can you also believe that Christine used to be a keen and, dare I say, very good tennis player when she was younger? Perhaps it's a hint that she should take it up again? ;-)

Once more this confirms that fortune has finally taken a turn for the better. Christine holds the strong belief that her late grandfather is watching over us closely. And who am I to disagree? After all the pain we've been through, the sun is finally shining. Today it actually shone so warmly through the veil of high clouds and Christine and I really enjoyed an afternoon walk... our first walk through our new home in 2011.

A very happy New Year to all of you!!!

Christine - Hunters: 1-0!!!

This morning we woke up a bit later than usual. It has been a very hard couple of days on the digestive side. Friday evening we hosted a very copious dinner because we wanted to show our Italian friends that the Belgian cuisine is quality-wise a very good match for the Italian one. And yesterday we were invited for an extensive lunch ourselves. So after two days of hard labour at the table we thought that we could do with a small break. I opened the curtains around ten and was thrilled to see that at least we'd have a white Boxing Day. The past couple of days have been quite warm and a bit rainy so the sight of the snow-covered trees and fields was quite a lovely surprise.

But then came the shock. Christine was raising the curtain at the side window of our bedroom and suddenly screamed that there was a car parked in the middle of our garden! I couldn't believe it at first, but indeed, there it was. Someone had driven by our letterbox and the pillar which will one day hold one part of our entrance gate, made a 180 degree turn through our rose beds and parked his car just there. We immediately sussed that it must be one of those bloody hunters again. I took the camera and went outside to take a couple of pictures as proof, while Christine called the Carabinieri. Who obviously didn't feel like driving half an hour through the snow on a holiday, so they advised us to call the Provincial Police (who's responsible for hunting issues) the next morning. So that was that.

Suddenly, Christine had a brilliant idea. She asked me to go and park our car at the entrance gate in such a way that the stupid idiot wouldn't be able to leave anymore. Which I did right away. That should come down as a shock to that bastard! A bit later we saw him, walking across our field. Again we took a couple of pictures. This man was in breach of the law no less than 4 times:

- Parking on private property

- Walking through a private garden (I'm not even referring to our field because this would be regarded as "agricultural land")

- Hunting in the snow (only allowed to a very select group of special licence holders)

- Hunting less than 100m away from a house

So we prepared ourselves for the confrontation, which obviously wouldn't be far away anymore. It was nearing lunchtime and the guy certainly wouldn't want to miss his hot tortelli. And indeed, Christine shouted at me that the man was headed for his car. Showtime! Just to be on the safe side, I quickly installed a very powerful studio microphone by the window just above the front door. In the not unlikely event that the man was going to utter threats to Christine, he wouldn't be able to get away with it so easily.

But eventually, the man turned out to be very... apologetic.

- "Private property is private property and this should be holy to everyone!", he exclaimed with a big, shining halo above his head. He probably realised that Christine was not the person to mess around with and he certainly didn't fancy walking home several miles through the cold and snow. His tortelli would probably also be cold by then. So he suddenly was the holy pope himself and assured us that he would make it clear to everyone that they're not to come onto our property!

Victory!!! :-)

BTW, if any of you speak Italian and fancy a big laugh, the recorded audio file is available on request in mp3 format! hehehe...

Merry Christmas to you all!!!

With this picture of our first Italian Christmas tree, I'd like to wish all of you a merry Christmas and a very happy New Year. You've all been such a big support to us and you've contributed so much to our survival through this horrible year. Therefore Christine and I would like to say a big "thank you" and we wish you lots of happiness for 2011. May all of your wishes come true!

Let it snow, let it snow, let it snow...

Do you remember that you used to love playing in the snow when you were a little kid? Our children seem to love it too! With "children" I obviously mean our cats of course. :-) Especially Blu and Thomas, our two Norwegian rascals, truly live up to their breed and adore rolling and jumping about until they're totally covered in snow. It's so delightful to see them at it. Why does anyone still need a television, we often wonder.

Canelle, our oldest, prefers to stay away from all that juvenile violence and is carefully threading on the big, white carpet, stearing well clear of the other three...

Here's Blu. She's just had a couple of rolls and a big shake to get all the cold snow off her. And then she lays down in the hole she's just made in order to enjoy the warm sunshine which is shining abundantly on her thick fur.

Flora, our Maine Coon kitten and the youngest of the pack, tries to follow Blu's example, be it a little less enthusiastically...

Thomas, on the other hand, doesn't need any convincing to go out in the snow. On the contrary; he just loves it! Just look at him... He can't bury himself deep enough in it! :-)

Flora eventually returns to a spot where she can rest high and dry while she's watching the two Norwegians making havoc.

"I'm the king of the hill", Thomas squeaks. Apart from me he's the only man in the house. Well... err... was apart from me the only man in the house. :-) And indeed, there's nothing "macho" about him. On the contrary, he wants to be friends with everybody - humans excluded because apart from Christine and I he doesn't want to get to know them at all.


Blu quickly follows Thomas onto the "throne" he's just discovered. Isn't she a lovely lady?

So you can see that our cats are absolutely happy in their new home. For Christine and I our new Italian home is a dream, but for our cats it truly must be paradise. So much space to play, so many trees to climb and so many things to discover... They've had a very difficult move from Belgium which must have scared the living wits out of them. And after that they still suffered for months because when they were finally getting used to the small house we rented at first, they had to move again to our new house. But now, if you ask them, they never want to go away from this place anymore. Just like us... ;-)

I'm going to be a teacher!

That's right! A real teacher teaching real students. Well, kids actually, which is probably even worse. Remembering the good old days of my own childhood I know what a cunning horror children may be to a teacher. That being said, poachers make the best forest keepers, so to speak, meaning that my own experience as an inpertinent little brat will certainly have me prepared for a situation in which the tables are turned.

Now, what is this all about? This morning I received a phonecall from the head master of one of the local schools. She's a very friendly lady (well, she sounded very friendly over the phone anyway) and she's very much concerned about the level of English that Italian children are being taught. I already told you the story about that little lad who's had five years of English in primary school and who can't even say something basic and simple like "How are you?". The head master wants to do something about it and heard about me as an "English mothertongue" teacher. Even though the word "mothertongue" is a big exaggeration, I was honoured to receive her request for help and I assured her that it would be a real pleasure to become a part-time teacher at the two schools for which she is responsible. She offered me a contract for 16 hours a week, 8 at each school, and for a very interesting salary too. The details still have to be finalised of course; for the moment she only had to be certain that I was interested. In any case it would be just perfect for me because a part-time job will allow me to make myself useful to the community without (hopefully) overstressing myself. It'd give me enough time to recover and to remain my "normal" self. She'll contact me later this week in order to sit together and discuss all of this a bit better and to share some ideas about a better approach at teaching English. Since I completed this TEFL course I have quite a lot of them, such as games and other fun exercises which will let the children assimilate with the language in a much more pleasant and above all effective way than simply learning words and grammar rules by heart. Oh yes, I'll be very well prepared and motivated! :-)

The lessons should start in March so I'll keep you informed about how well it goes! Oh... I'm so excited! Finally things really seem to be going our way now. I think that we deserved it after all the hard times and I'm sure that you'd agree with me on that. So... on with OUR NEW LIFE IN ITALY!!!

A new home for my mother-in-law

Last week my mother-in-law received dreadful news. She'll be thrown out of the cottage she rents because the owner's daughter cast an eye on it and fancies living there. She has until summer to find a new home.

This news didn't come totally unexpected. The owner's father had promised my mother-in-law she could live in that cottage for as long as she wanted. But when he came to die two years ago, this promise died with him. My mother-in-law had already picked up some rumours about the daughter wanting the house a couple of months ago. So she wasn't totally unprepared for it. But nevertheless the official announcement came as a total shock which was even aggravated by the blunt, careless and truly arrogant manner in which the owner came to tell her.

He barged into the house with a big cigar, polluting the air with the foul breath he belched forth. Then he asked for a drink. He didn't wait to be offered one, oh no! He wanted a drink.

- "Allright", my mother-in-law said, "I have water or orange juice..."

- "Don't you have anything else?", he asked.

- "Well...", my mother-in-law wittingly replied, "I've still got a bottle of Champagne in the garage."

- "Oh, that'll do nicely!"

And he meant it! Upon which my mother-in-law exploded and asked him whether she should really serve him a bottle of Champagne when he came to tell her he would throw her out of her house.

But there it is. Christine and I have already offered her the room of our B&B, even if it's only temporary. But in the end we believe that she prefers to stay in Flanders where all of her friends are, in stead of moving to a foreign country where she'll be much more isolated and where she doesn't speak the language. Today she's actually living in the same street as her other daughter and her two grandchildren, so that must hurt very much too.

Well, mum, the room's still available if you want it. It's up to you. In any case, Christine and I would like to send you lots of courage and support, even though we're 800 miles away. We're sure that in the end everything will be ok. Remember that we told you that you'll certainly find an even much nicer home? Just like Christine had to do two times in a row. When she left her ex-husband for me, she also had to leave the house of her dreams behind. But then we built an even much more beautiful house together. Which we sold in order to achieve our Italian dream. And now, we're living in this Italian paradise which you visited only two weeks ago. So if we can do it, so can you. Never give up hope. Keep believing in yourself and keep repeating that you've deserved a nice place of your own. And everything will be just fine. Just trust me! :-)

The following picture was taken last September. Do you remember that I told you that Christine had won this private concert from one of Flanders' most renowned artists? Well, here's Christine on the left, Paul Michiels (the famous singer) on her right, then Christine's mother and on the right is Jeroen, Paul's pianist...

Fear of confrontations

What a busy weekend this was with my mother and sister in law staying for a couple of days. Christine and I very much enjoyed this visit and it really was a pity that they had to go back again so soon. But there it is. Back to "normal" life again. Today life really became back to "normal".

Someone knocked on our door this morning. I was a bit surprised because we've had a lot of snowfall last night and you'd have to plough through at least half a metre of snow on foot to reach our house, along a steep uphill entry road of more than 100m long. Not the sort of thing someone would endeavour unless it was absolutely necessary. So I opened the door, curious about who it might be. To my horror it was... the Nasty Little Man. He wanted to know when we'd pay him. I was a bit in shock and luckily Christine immediately came down and took over from me. There was a brief discussion about the origin of the water in our walls. According to him the water now comes from the top of the entry road because from there the slope goes a bit downhill again towards our house. And on the sides there are still a couple of holes from the unfinished ground works which according to him accumulate the water and send it to our house. Christine asked him why the water is not in our kitchen then. Obviously no reply. The Nasty Little Man even said that the drainage behind the house had become obsolete since we've had the wall constructed to stop the hill behind our house from crumbling down. Yes, you read it right: "obsolete". Nonetheless we've had to pay thousands for these drainage works and the Big Bad Wolf still wrote in his letter to court that he had drainage works done around the entire house "to the benefit of the entire structure". This means that he, our so-called "expert geometer" had us pay thousands for "obsolete" drainage works and then afterwards told us we'd need to have a wall built behind the house - yet another five thousand - to stop the hill from falling down. Oh yes, this'll look nice in court! Definitely it will!

Sadly... I can't take it anymore. Last time when the Big Bad Wolf and his Nasty Little Creep paid us a visit to inspect the damage, I already had to hide behind Christine's (very slim) back because I couldn't face those two bastards anymore. I was a total gonner for three days, trembling and totally in shock. I've got a feeling that after today it will not be very different. I can still get my thoughts together and hence I'm still capable of writing this blog post. But at times it feels as if a knife is cutting straight through my heart. My head starts spinning and all I can think of is escape. Escape to a place where noone can ever find me. Especially those irritating voices in my head. They're driving me insane and I wish so hard that I could shut them up forever. Why can't I just leave it be? Why does such a small event, an event that once again clearly demonstrates that we were in the right from the beginning and that we shouldn't pay that ghastly man the rest of his money until all problems with our house have been solved, have such an impact on me? It's even more surprising because especially my former colleagues will remember that I could be very ad rem and assertive during the meetings when I had to defend the interests of my clients. Sometimes even a bit too much... Without the slightest blink of an eye I could tell directors and even state-secretaries what I thought of them. And now, I can't even look a stupid, incompetent builder in the eye anymore. It makes me realise that what I did at work was only a front. A very good acting game, perhaps even worthy an Oscar. It was the enormous firewall that I constructed around me in order to protect my true inner self from the outside world. A true inner self that noone must ever discover. Today, it feels like this firewall has been torn down completely. I can't pretend anymore. All that's left is a shy little boy that just wants to be left in peace. Autism has caught up with me at last. I just have to accept it. Fortunately, Christine won't have me any other way. She's so sweet... I love her so much for that. And at least she takes my defense whenever necessary, like today. I can't thank her enough... She really makes me happy. When I got to know her, it was the first time in my entire life that I enjoyed true happiness. And it's still lasting, strong as ever... :-)

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???