Some news from the legal front

Three weeks ago, the court had called both parties in the Danilo-case for a first hearing. Christine and I were not present there in person, but, Sabrina, our brilliant solicitor defended our interests. Not a lot was said, but according to Sabrina, the judge must have spotted immediately that the official documents, such as the building permit, seismic study etc. were backdated and issued long after Christine had already given Danilo the sack. He's now summoned both Christine and Danilo in person for further inquiry. Which Christine obviously looks forward to a lot. If the judge already has doubts now about the authenticity of all of these documents, the forged signatures will undoubtedly also come to light during the next session. Given that Italians generally tend to be very much concerned about their bad, "mafiosi" image abroad, it's very likely that the judge will not be mild on Danilo for having stained the image of Italy even more with ignorant foreigners. Counterfeit is a major crime and hopefully Danilo won't find any rock to crawl under anymore.

BTW, I should also mention here that nasty little Nezio has all of a sudden also agreed to an independent expert who'll come to take a look at the damages somewhere next week. Didn't he say earlier that he'd go to court right away or something?...

All of this is yet again a sign that things are looking up for Christine and I. You'll remember that last year Christine contacted two different solicitors, among whom a very famous one, in the hope that they would take our case seriously. Unfortunately, both of them suggested that we should pay the bastard and said that we didn't stand a chance in court. Now, we're no longer talking about paying Danilo. Oh no! Now we're talking about tens of thousands of Euros in damages that he should pay us! I won't be too optimistic here because if fate can turn so quickly to our advantage, it may well turn again in the opposite direction just as fast. But all things considered... I'd say we have both of them by the B... :-) 

The TV show

It's been a couple of very difficult weeks for me, but I'll give you an update one step at a time. :-)

So, two weeks ago I got invited for an interview on the popular talkshow "Goedele" on the Flemish commercial television. Needless to say that I was thrilled about it, moreover because all of my travel arrangements were paid, airport pick-up and drop-off were included and I received a hotelroom for the night. They had sent me a list of no less than 15 questions, to which they wanted my answers already beforehand, probably in order to be able to plan the timing of the show. Of course, I was not the main act, but I was only asked to support Thomas, the autistic boy I told you about. Which I gladly did because I admire that boy a lot.

- "You are my inspiration!", Thomas shouted at me when we first met in the TV station's dressing rooms. How about that? It made me feel inside like a chocolate toffee in the hot, summer sunshine. My heart melted away... I could only smile and replied that he had done it all by himself. Shortly the minister of education will come to visit him personally, so that's quite an achievement, isn't it? Anyway, Thomas insisted that I'd sit next to him during the show and so it happened. In the mean time we've become close friends and now I know truly everything about Minecraft, his favourite computer game. :-) After a brief rehearsal and make up, we were accompanied to our chairs at the big, centre table in the studio, surrounded by a live audience of about a hundred people. Then Goedele, the talkshow host, entered the stage and she immediately tried to reassure little Thomas and... probably anticipated on some unexpected remarks that he might give. The table was in fact a bit wobbly...

- "Yes, I know that it's only plastic and not real wood, but that'll remain our little secret, ok? Don't say that out loud!"

And she made a similar comment on her false eyelashes too. :-)  

Then the recording of our part of the programme started. It was only ten minutes and out of the 15 questions I'd had to prepare, in the end I only got asked 2 or 3. But I think I did rather well, which was confirmed later by the many, very positive reactions I received. My message apparently came through very well and that was the most important bit.

I still haven't seen the show on TV yet; the TV station was going to send me a copy on DVD which I'm yet to receive. So I'm very curious... :-)

In the end, all of the publicity I get for my book through newspapers and now this TV appearance is starting to bear fruit. After a rather sloppy start of the booksale, things are now running like a train and according to my editor already 900 copies have been sold in these 3 or 4 weeks and orders are still pouring in daily. The sloppy start was mainly due to a kind of boycot from the biggest chain of bookstores in Flanders. They're not really interested in new, unknown authors and only buy books from the established ones. But after all of this publicity they've changed their minds and now offer my book in their shops too. So I'm very happy indeed.

I've also been asked to write a few columns for the newsletters of the Flemish Autism Association, which I'll gladly do... later, because for the moment I think I need a lie-down... :-)

The chicks!

And... for those of you who're wondering how our 5 little chicks are doing, here a couple of photos. I haven't got much time right now (just returned from Belgium for this TV interview and in a few hours I'll be off to the annual Star party of my astronomy internet forum). But expect more news from me after the weekend!

Rollercoaster - part 2

I've only barely written my previous post when the rollercoaster is suddenly picking up even a lot more speed. In Flanders there is a lot of commotion for the moment about a boy called Thomas. He's 12 years old, high-functioning autistic and they're threatening him to take him away from his mother. The reason? Thomas can't go to school anymore. If I'm correct, they've tried no less than seven schools (imagine that for an autistic boy!) but none of them was able to give him the special attention he needs. So he and his mother are desperate. The appalling thing is though, that if by September he is not inscribed in any school, the "juvenile protection centre" will take him away from his mother and put him into foster care because she'd be supposedly a "bad mother" for "not sending him to school".

But brave little Thomas isn't giving up so easily. He's planning to start his own school, especially for autistic children! He's already found a suitable building (a school that was recently closed) and... he wrote a (very emotional) letter to the minister of education asking him permission to use this building for this purpose. "Only the water and electricity supply is still a problem, but that can certainly be fixed", he wrote. And "since there are so many unemployed teachers, we'll have no problem finding teachers for the school. My brother said that unemployed people receive an income from the State, they call it unemployment fee or something. So these teachers will cost you nothing more". :-)

His story and his letter caused a national outrage and next week he'll be in one of Flanders most popular talkshows on TV ("Goedele op dinsdag").

Now, what does this story have to do with me, you might ask? Thomas was present during the presentation of my book last week, and he claims in the interview that I've given him the courage to write the letter, because I told him never to give up. As an autistic boy, he's taken my words very literally. Personally, I doubt it if I have truly triggered him to take these initiatives. He's obviously a very courageous boy; courage which he already possessed long before he got to know me. Nevertheless he's asked the producers of the talkshow if I couldn't be present as well. So I also got an invitation and they're even willing to make an effort to pay for my flight (which doesn't come cheap at this short notice) and a hotel for the night.

Probably Thomas sees in me someone who truly understands his problem, and rightfully so. When he asked me during the presentation what I did against all the bullying at school, I felt very sad having to reply that I hadn't found the answer to that question yet. We, autistic people, have such a hard time understanding irony and mockery so we are the perfect victims. Our frustration for not being able to properly respond quickly turns into anger and sometimes even aggression. Which makes us even more perfect.

I sincerely hope that I can help him feel better and I'm absolutely convinced that he's destined for great things. He's already achieved more in one week than I in over forty years! Kudos, Thomas!!!

Rollercoaster

Have you ever been on a rollercoaster? That's the feeling I'm having right now. Tuesday and Wednesday I was back in Flanders in order to meet the press regarding my book. They were two long and tiring days because the interest in my book turned out to be a lot bigger than expected. Journalists from two of the biggest Flemish newspapers were there ("De Morgen" and "Gazet Van Antwerpen"), and no less than five magazines, including "Knack" (a highly renowned one). I even got interviewed by a journalist from "Dag Allemaal", which is largely regarded as the sort of magazine nobody ever buys but which everyone has read at the dentist's. This sounds a bit disrespectful because after all it remains the biggest-selling Flemish magazine of them all and in the end I'm very happy that they came. Mostly because it has such a wide coverage and it is read by the "man and women in the street", not just an "elite" audience. I believe that it's mostly the "man and woman in the street" who'd like to know more about autism and for whom this article and my book may be enlightening. 

On the downside, I was informed by my editor that the book sell hadn't been very good so far. Mostly because Flander's biggest chain of book shops ("Standaard Boekhandel") had refused to buy it. Apparently they're very reluctant to take in new authors and they concentrate on the ones who've already made a name for themselves. Pretty stupid, I would say, because when they're left with an unsold stock they can always force the editors to buy it back. But now that my editor (all credit to them!!!) has awoken a big interest from the press they've come 'round and started buying the book in limited quantities. Everytime someone asks me where they can find the book, I now promptly reply "Standaard Boekhandel". hehehe... :-) 

In the mean time the two newspapers have already published their articles. 3/4 of a page in "De Morgen" and a whopping full page (!) in "Gazet Van Antwerpen". I just can't believe it. When I agreed to do the interviews I thought that it would be for a small review on the "new books" page. You know, together with 4 or 6 books on the same half a page. But no... a full page! The interviews also didn't really focus on the book as such but mostly focused on me being autistic and how I coped with "real life". With its ups and downs. And I can only say that I'm touched very deeply by the way that these journalists transcribed my words because they really caught very well what I was trying to say. I'm eternally grateful to them... 

On Wednesday evening came the climax of these wonderful two days. A presentation of my book by noone else but Dirk Verhofstadt, the former prime minister's brother. Together with a mother of an autistic child and a representative of the "VVA" (Flemish Autism Society) we discussed the subject in front of a big audience and afterwards all of the books my editor had brought along were immediately sold out. They even had to put my personal copies up for sale and even that wasn't enough. 

My whole life long I've tried to be in the centre of attention. As a stupid attempt to be "accepted" by the others and most probably as a strange sort of cry for help. Most of the time this brought me into a lot of trouble. Now, after forty-two years, when I finally realise that I should rather stay out of the centre of attention, this attention is coming to me all by itself. Life can be so ironic... Hopefully the rollercoaster won't crash in the end! :-)     

We're grandparents!!! :-)

I would have posted this sooner but Blogger has been unavailable for a while... :-(  Anyway, as from this week our household has been extended somewhat. Our hens and cockerel are the proud parents of 5 little chickens!!! They're absolutely adorable, aren't they??? :-)

Unfortunately, two other eggs were about to hatch but the chicks inside weren't strong enough to break through apparently, and Christine and I were too late to lend them a hand. It's a pity... but nevertheless our grief is more than compensated by the joy of seeing these playful little creatures run about in the enclosed space under our henhouse. Rest assured that we'll take good care of them!!

A false note

Here's a small example about how quickly I lose control and a situation can get out of hand. It's one of the small "details" through which others may perceive that something's "wrong" with me and which led to me becoming an outcast up to the point of being severly bullied for being "different".

Obviously I was terribly enthousiastic about the Star Camp. It all went so well and everyone was so kind... Also the reactions I received on the astronomy internet forum were so nice... And then it happened. One of the forum's moderators suddenly intervened and said that the thread on the Star Camp had only had the intention to talk about the "planning phase" of the event and that all comments about how it had gone were off-topic. Normally, forum members are requested to make their comments on the forum's management only through private messages. But I was so stunned by this intervention... I couldn't understand why someone wanted to "ruin" my topic while other, similar, topics were allowed to continue, that I lost control. Emotions started to rage throuh my head... my whole body started to shiver out of frustration and anger. So I openly questioned the intervention and argued that I had started the topic to talk about the event "in general" and that people were allowed to continue with their comments as far as I was concerned. My message was very polite, unlike some of the things I've already said and done in similar situations, but nevertheless it directly challenged the authority of the moderators. Afterwards the moderator acknowledged that his intervention had been a mistake but he warned that such public neglect of a moderator's intervention could not be tolerated, although he would turn a blind eye for now.

Do you know what this did to me? I haven't slept for two nights and yesterday morning I sat at the breakfast table weeping. It felt as if the whole world was against me. For two full days I couldn't think, couldn't almost do anything else, I was shattered. I sent very angry private messages to that moderator, style "I thought you were a friend", because I believed it all to be so terribly wrong. For such a stupid thing... When things calmed down a bit and I started clearing up the mess in my head, I sent another, very emotional message to that moderator and explained what's the matter with me. And if he hadn't been so many miles away he would have given me a good hug. :-)

These are those little things that makes being autistic so difficult. Everything has to be "just so" because otherwise my "perfect world" goes to pieces and I lose control. We, autistic people, need this "perfect world" so very much because the "normal" one makes us so terribly confused that we need something firm and stable in order to cling to. Take this stability away and we're gonners. How frustrating...  

The Star Camp

What another busy week this has been! But unlike before, this time I've brought it onto myself. Last year I had the intention to organise a sort of "Star Camp" for all of my Italian astronomy friends because I wanted to thank them for their support and invite them to our place for a sumptuous BBQ plus observing night under the dark skies of our field. Unfortunately, there were the Big Bad Wolf and Nasty Little Man because of whom we went months past the deadline for finishing our house and so the whole plan collapsed.

Not to worry, however! This year I wanted to do it all over again and so I re-launched the invitation on the Italian astronomy internet forum. It didn't take long before the reservations rolled in and even though the event remained at a small scale (on Friday evening we were with 7 people and Saturday 13), we all had a wonderful time. The BBQ worked out really well and we were fortunate to have two nights of clear skies in a row, even though at the beginning the air was poorly transparent due to humidity. But after midnight it all cleared up and observing became a real joy. There were lots of telescopes and binoculars and we all went round to take a peek in eachother's treasures. 

I was totally knackered on Sunday, but very satisfied indeed. Most importantly because the guys and girls from the astronomy forum all turned out to be even more kind than how they appeared on the forum. And this is what makes me so proud to be a member of it. I believe that I have established a lot of true friendships for life with these people. They all brought us some local delicacies from their respective regions (3 had even driven all the way up from Rome!) which made the BBQ an all-Italian event. Even though I insisted on giving it a "Flemishg" touch of course by putting a pot filled with delicious double-malt Trappist ale in the middle of the BBQ in order to "steam" the meat with its perfume. Really... I love this country and its people. Well, most of its people anyway. :-)

And one last thing I insist on writing. The whole event wouldn't have been possible without Christine. The whole weekend she worked day and night, mostly invisible in the background, in order to spoil everyone with food, make up he beds, clean the house and do the dishes. I'm eternally grateful for everything she's done. Today she's having one of her terrible blows again. Exhausted to the point of collapse. But she doesn't mind because she believes it was all worth it. What a woman...

Here are a few pictures to illustrated the wonderful atmosphere of the Star Camp (3 of which courtesy to Monica):



Lift off

It's about time that I tell you some more news about my book. I already informed you that it'll be out for sale by early May, which is actually within a week or so. My editor's publicity machine has been doing overtime lately and you can already find my book on all of the major book websites in Flanders and the Netherlands. But that is not all. Apparently there's a big interest from journalists and therefore my editor asked me to return to Flanders for a couple of days to do some interviews. 5 journalists have already confirmed so the 17-19th of May will be quite hectic for me. I don't know yet from which newspapers or magazines they are, but it's not unlikely that they are major ones. I'm beginning to fear that things are slowly beginning to run out of hand. The fact that the director general of my publishing company told me that she wants to take me out for dinner doesn't really help to take this feeling away either! There used to be a time when I was always trying to be at the centre of attention, merely because being autistic I didn't get any attention from the other children and also because I didn't know how I could claim my "normal share" of the common attention. Most of the time, however, this brought me into a lot of trouble because my ways of seeking attention were far from the generally accepted ones. It was (and still is) so very hard for me to figure out what is "generally accepted" anyway. So after more than 40 years and a serious breakdown I'm now more inclined to stay out of the floodlights. Oh holy coincidence... it's now that the attention is suddenly coming my way without me asking for it! How strange life can be, can't it? 

And now I still have to tell you the best bit. My editor just sent me a review of my book by nobody else but Dirk Verhofstadt - yes, the former Belgian prime minister's brother. I'm not going to translate all of the review because it's simply too long. Let me just say that it was stunnigly positive! A few excerpts:

"... the author draws a profound image (of autism)..."

"... to create a coherent picture of what autism is, something in which the author masterfully succeeds."

and especially this one:

"Some of the pieces have been written exceptionally well and even remind me of "Kleine Dagen", the book which won Bernard Dewulf the Libris Prize 2010" (one of the most important literary prizes in the Flemish/Dutch language)  

Mr. Verhofstadt is even organising a public presentation of my book, under the auspices of the Flemish Liberal Party. Taken aside the without any doubt political aspect of this presentation, it will most certainly be a wonderful promotion for the book itself. I will have to answer questions and then Marleen Verpoorten, the former Flemish minister of education will speak about her ideas to improve the integration of autistic children at school. Afterwards there will be a reception and book sale (with autographs?...). 

Well I'll be... Phew... 

Reconciliation?

I've already elaborated a lot about the various courtcases Christine and I are involved in for the moment. It's a bit cynical because all we wanted when we moved to Italy was to lead a quiet and more secluded life and we didn't want any trouble with anyone. Alas, fate decided otherwise. Sometimes circumstances can force you to accept something you had preferred otherwise. In our case, the attempted rip-off by our ex-geometer and contractor. Last Thursday our sollicitor had organised a meeting at our house to bring all the parties round the table. It was something I didn't look forward to at all. There used to be a time when I could face a possible conflict situation with my head up high, as my former colleagues might remember. It was a very good front because in reality I can only run away from conflicts. These days the front is gone and running away is all that's left for me. Fortunately there are still Christine, our brilliant sollicitor and the expert she hired to assess the works carried out to our house and the damages that appeared afterwards. So I held myself together and watched the scene from the background. And it was a very nice scene indeed.

First our solicitor arrived together with Alberto, the expert, and we went through a couple of the details that were to be discussed. They agreed that for the works carried out so far we had already paid more than enough and that this would be the position they'd take against the others. Christine greeted them first while I was still creating some sort of order in the house. When I came out a couple of minutes later, Christine suddenly held a paper in front of my nose and asked: "is this my signature?" It obviously wasn't. It was like if a five-year old had written it... on the "Safety report for the building site". This is a document that should have been produced long before any of the works started and which we had never seen in our lives! "And this", Christine asked, "is this perhaps my signature?" No, again it obviously wasn't. "And this?" Again clearly not, although the last one was forged a lot better than the two previous ones. So apart from the building permit, Danilo had suddenly forged another three vital documents which he had "forgotten" to produce. Obviously responding to the request of our expert who hadn't found these vital documents in the files of the commune's administration. It was a very nice start of the event and things would only get better. Soon afterwards they arrived. Nasty Little Man Nezio leapt out of his truck and barged towards our terrace with his big belly high up in the air. His fat head resembled to a red balloon that was about to explode. He was after his money and his gestures didn't leave any room for doubt about that. Then we saw a rather unexpected little car drive up our entrance lane: a flashing yellow Fiat Panda. Not the sort of car you'd associate with a solicitor of the Danilo-clan, to let alone Big Bad Wolf Danilo in person. Then again, you may recall that in November 2009, when the works to our house had only just started, Danilo drove his brand new VW Golf off a cliff and was lucky to escape alive. Afterwards we heard about his drinking problem and when I saw him crawling out of the vehicle it was obvious that the serious overconsumption of alcohol had taken its toll. He was no longer the stylish and extravagant man we had got to know in the beginning and who had been able to completely fool us in this adventure. He had become an old man, his hair still long but thinning and very untidy. His overall looks were shabby and the wrinkles on his pale face had become deep, black grooves. The evil sparkle in his eyes had remained though and made us aware that he'd not be easy to deal with. This man was highly experienced in this sort of thing - he's probably been ripping people off since childhood - and he feels very secure because of the power he and his family enjoy in the area. Our two ex-solicitors, among which a very famous and respected one, had already wetted their pants, as a matter of speaking, when they heard about who we were up against. Danilo strolled calmly towards Nezio and us, sat down on one of the rocks bordering our terrace and grinned. He didn't say a word, but just sat there. Out of the same car stepped the family solicitor - Danilo's nephew. He was exactly the sort of solicitor you'd expect to defend a family of mobsters: slick, black suit and tie, unshaven, enormous black sunglasses (which he never cared to take off, even though there were more and more clouds in the sky) and a toothpaste smile. He presented himself and firmly shook our hands. The game was on...

Sabrina, our solicitor, was not impressed at all and decided to take the bull by the horns. She made a brief account of the problems and proposed that we'd rather come to an agreement because going to court wouldn't be good for anyone. She stressed that the works that Nezio started were still far from finished and the we had already paid him x Euros so far... "Period!" 

- "Period? Whad do you mean... Period???", Nezio immediately intervened. Steam was blowing out of his ears and nose. 

- "Yes, you heard. Period", Sabrina repeated. "Let's take the entrance lane, for example. You charged my clients a whopping €5.000 for turning it into a decent road. Look at it. Do you think that it looks decent?", she asked, pointing at something that rather looked like a tractor trail through a field. 

- "It was decent when I left!", he shouted, "It's because of all the trucks and machines that came afterwards that the road is now in such a bad way!"

- "So, do you say that your concrete and materials arrived by aeroplane?", Christine wittingly asked. Nezio grunted furiously.

- "It is obvious that this road was not built properly", Sabrina went on, "and if necessary we'll have a court expert examine it. Would you agree to that?"

Nezio didn't say a word. 

- "Right then, let's talk about the water problem", Sabrina said. Nezio shouted that he had carried out the drainage works correctly and that it was the fault of everyone who had continued after him that the drainage didn't work properly anymore.

- "They've damaged my tube!", he shouted.

- "Even if that's true, are you saying that they also raised the level at which you've laid the tube by half a metre?", Alberto intervened, "We've made a hole behind the house and found that tube of yours... only a foot deep, without protecting cloth, decent foundation or a sufficient layer of pebbles on top." 

Nezio was about to burst. His head turned all purple. In rage he steamed to the back of our house, followed by Alberto. We couldn't hear anymore what they were saying but Nezio was shouting in the sort of frenzy of a madman. In the mean time Danilo and his sollicitor were standing a bit apart and were whispering to eachother. I couldn't understand what they were saying, but I did hear one sentence the solicitor said about Sabrina:

- "She's right, you know."

When everyone had calmed down again, Sabrina made her final offer to Nezio. 

- "Or you agree that my clients have paid enough and we leave it at that, or we go to court. But be advised that if we go to court, an expert appointed by the court will investigate the works carried out with a miroscope. Every inch of concrete, every stone you laid... and will compare this to the figures in your calculation. You do understand this, don't you?"

- "Your clients agreed to the price proposed by my client", the other solicitor said.

- "You know very well that this was only an estimate", Sabrina replied, "and that these prices should always agree with those laid out by the Chamber of Commerce. It is the duty of the Director of Works (meaning: Danilo) to verify that these prices are in agreement with the legally established ones and to defend his clients against the contractor if they're not!" 

Danilo didn't move an inch.

"So, Nezio, do you still want to go to court?", she repeated her question.

Nezio hesitated a second. His whole body trembled and he stared at the ground.

"Yes", he stuttered, "let's go to court then."

"Allright. It's your call. And remember that we'll then also have to send a convocation to the Director of Works because he didn't properly supervise the works, as is his task, and that he is also responsible for the damages."

Danilo was still sitting on that rock, behind Sabrina's back. He looked at her with his evil eyes and smiled in a very vile way when she said this. As if he accepted the invitation. "You go ahead... Let's see if you dare..."

Sabrina on the other hand only just got started. She then mentioned other damages, like not being able to open our B&B.

- "Thanks to you, my clients already suffered a year's delay for the opening of their B&B (the contract stipulated that Nezio had to be already finished by December 2009!). If you pursue this courtcase there will be a lot more delay involved and of course we'll ask the reimbursement of these damages!"

I hadn't thought of that, but a quick calculation told me that we'd be talking about tens of thousands of Euros in damages! 

The meeting ended in a stalemate. Nezio would go to court and Danilo would hold on to his courtcase (which is due to have a first session next month). Although we're dead certain that their solicitor is getting more and more reluctant to take this road. Alberto showed him the damages to our house and they're pretty impressive indeed. At places the plastering is coming off and algae are beginning to show. Also parts of the floor in the corridor is covered in patches of chalk. Didn't Nezio say that water didn't get through the floor or something? And didn't we already mention the detrimental effect of water in the floor to the efficiency of our floor heating? The solicitor didn't say a lot anymore indeed. But we realise all too well that Nezio and Danilo are way too stubborn to give up their claims. Nezio because he's too stupid and Danilo because he's too confident. About this self-confidence, just to show you; when they left, Danilo had the bloody nerve to shake our solicitor's hand and to tell her "You've said that very well".
How about that???

So, there we are. In fact, we're almost hoping that they'd go to court because we are now confident that we're having a very strong case. Much stronger than we had ever imagined. We've found an excellent solicitor who'll do everything in her power to defend us. And a very good expert who easily overthrew all of Nezio's claims about a job well done.

To be continued...

  

A welcome guest

For about a week or so, we've got a new guest. No, not in our house, but in our garden. It's... a nightingale! And he doesn't just sing in the evening or at night, oh no, even during broad daylight he bursts out in a wonderful song for Christine and I to enjoy. Or to repel his neighbour which we can hear a bit further in the woods. Yes, there are at least two of them around! Yesterday morning we heard him quite near and we went looking for him. And there he was... hopping about in the lower bushes whilst whisteling and squeeking as loudly as he could.

In the evening I tried to make a recording from our study. Unfortunately he was a bit further away so I had to filter and boost the recorded audio file a lot. So don't think that you can hear aeroplanes all of the time in the background... it's the unfortunate effect of having filtered as much of the noise away as I could. But in the end his voice sounds very clearly on the recording so you'll have an idea of what we can enjoy nearly all day and all night long! :-)

http://dl.dropbox.com/u/24841015/Nightingale281.mp3

The website is on-line!!!

At last... I did it!!! The website for Christine's B&B is finished an on-line. Please feel free to visit it and I truly hope that you would pass the link on to as many people as you can... highly appreciated! (and comments would also be more than welcome of course...)

http://www.bb-lastella.it/

Ladies and Gentlemen, the Observatory is finished!

I did it!!! My little observatory is finished and it fills me with a lot of pride. It's one of the few things that I started and also finished. I'm always so full of ideas but usually get bored halfway through and abandon the project. But the call of the stars must truly be so strong that it pulled me through the hardest bits. On the other hand, once I get started with something that I like, I don't feel any fatigue anymore and if it didn't get dark in the evening I could have continued working on my shed until I'd fall asleep on the ground, without eating or thinking about anything else. "Very few but incredibly strong passions", they say about people with autism and this must really be true because it's all me. Well, I hope you like the result and that one day I can show you the beauty of the heavens because most people have forgotten about that and only rarely look up anymore. Of course we have to blame streetlighting for that as well because there are hardly any places left where this beauty can still be admired in its true splendour. Streetlights... the most useless invention of man if you ask me because coontrary to what many people believe it makes the streets LESS safe for traffic or against burglars, while consuming billions of € on electricity every year. How about that for CO² emissions!You don't believe me? Here are a couple of pictures to prove it! Below is a picture of totally dark crossroads. See how easily you notice that a car is approaching from the right...

Or how easily you notice a pedestrian (wearing a reflective vest)...

Compare this to illumlinated crossroads. Do you still notice the car coming from the left that easily?

And what about burglars? Streetlights provide them with just enough light to do their business without having to use a torch, but also offer them enough shadow where they can hide. The following picture was our backdoor in Belgium, illuminated by a one of these bloody halogen streetlights... When a burglar needs to use a torch in total darkness, I don't know, but according to me he would stick out like a sore thumb, wouldn't you agree?

Anyway, enough about that. I know that I can go on and on about certain things up to the point that everyone finds me bloody irritable. So at last, here are the pictures of my new observatory... :-)

The Carù National Observatory - Progress Report

The last couple of weeks have been blessed with excellent weather... 28°C in the shade... a golden sunshine... Ah, it's summer!!! :-D This meant that after my sister-in-law and her family had left I didn't have any excuse anymore to delay the construction of my little observatory-house.

First I made a structure of wooden girders. It was quite a daunting thing to do as there was quite a bit of wind at the time - unusual over here - and the top of the house is 3,5m above the ground. Moreover, I had to do it completely on my own. But I kept repeating to myself that "there's nothing a man can't do" and in the end I succeeded. And before I get any complaints from the ladies, yes... perhaps there are things a man can't do. But when you're 3m up a ladder, balancing against the gusts of wind and trying to hold these heavy girders whilst bolting them together, you need to say something like that to yourself in order not to wet your pants. :-D

Here the structure was nearly finished:

And then I started with the roof. The sky was still a bit threatening with rain the first couple of days and therefore I didn't want to take any risks with the wood I had just bought. With the roof finished I could safely store all of my stuff.

But in the end it only rained a couple of drops and the sky quicky cleared. I then started laying the brownish roofing tiles...

And here's the finished roof. I'm quite proud of it actually! :-) 

At the time of writing all the walls are already finished and all I still have to do is putting the doors in place, but I haven't taken any pictures yet over the last two or three days so you'll still have to wait a bit to see the final result. I've also already painted everything with a second layer of a special, whitish wood protector (a first layer had already been done by the factory where I bought the wood), so I'm ok for the next 5 years or so. In the mean time, Christine has also already decided on the climbing rose she'll put against the little house. For the experts, it'll be a "Kifts Gate" rambler which is a really wild rose that'll cover the entire house in no time. That being said, Christine was full of admiration for my work and if she says that, it has to be true... :-) 

The booking office is now open!

Again, I'm so sorry that I'm not regularly updating this blog at the moment. Not only are we so busy with finishing or house, but on top of that my computer's crashed and I can't find my Vista DVD anywhere... (it must still be in one of the cardboard boxes from the move, but where???...) I currently have to revert to my laptop which doesn't contain all of the pictures but it's better than nothing. So, here we are... Christine's B&B is ready for you!!! :-) Please, let it be known to everyone who's looking for a break from the everyday rush. In the Italian mountains there's a lovely B&B where you can relax in the middle of nature and, of course, with an excellent service! :-D Unfortunately, the website isn't on-line yet (stupid pc... grunt...) but here are already two pictures to show you what we have on offer...

There's just one room, specifically targeted at couples or two friends who want to get away from it all and therefore you will enjoy our full attention and the house is all yours. BTW, in the latter case we provide two single beds... ;-) 

I don't think I have to show you any more pictures of the view from our domain because this blog is already full of those. But ok, here's one more...

More cupcakes!!!

And what were the girls up to when Patrick and i were doing our "macho" stuff, you might ask? Well, Christine taught them how to make cupcakes with a creamy heart and coloured sugar-icing on top including lots of figures also all hand-made out of sugar. You can tell they enjoyed it, can't you?...

Here's the result of a whole afternoon's work. I can assure you that they tasted deliciously, especially after the mountain hike Patrick and I had done... :-) Although it was kind of a pity having to eat them, wouldn't you agree?

The Pradarena Adventure revisited!

Patrick, my brother-in-law, has a rather adventurous nature. And even though he thoroughly enjoyed staying at our house and just being in the middle of nature and its overwhelming silence, he was looking forward to a bit of a challenge after a couple of days. So I proposed that we'd drive all the way up the Pradarena pass and see how high we could get from thereon. The ladies were terribly busy doing "ladies' stuff" (of which I will report more later on) so there was nothing that could stop us. We jumped into his car and drove off, hungry for the ultimate thrill.

The road towards the pass was perfectly clear and the sun was shining as brightly as always so we didn't encounter any real problems getting up there. But the higher we got, the more we couldn't stop noticing the enormous pile of snow on either side of the road. Like white, concrete walls that became at times higher than the car itself. Perhaps they provided the ideal surface for a fanatic skier, but as we hadn't brought any skis with us, or not even a pair of snow shoes, the thrill suddenly appeared a bit bigger than we had anticipated. There, high above us, I saw the "Monte dell'Asino" ("the Donkey's mountain") where I had hoped we could climb onto, like I already did last September. But with this enormous pile of snow, this began to appear impossible. Anyway, we're two strong lads and not easily intimidated. We would at least give it our best shot!

Once we arrived on top of the pass, we saw a group of other adventurers like us. But at least, they had been smart enough to bring their snow shoes with them and they easily marched off into the woods that lead in the direction of the mountain top. We were just standing there with ordinary hiking shoes. Hmmm... let's give it a try anyway. We've driven all this way up here, it would be a pity not at least having tried.

Surprisingly, the snow was that thick that it supported us quite well. Every now and then we sank into it up to our knees, but on average we managed quite well to walk on it. There, in the far distance, two hundred metres higher than where we were standing, we could see the top. We just had to do it! The trees suddenly stopped and we were all alone from thereon, with just this big white carpet stretching out in front of and above us. It was heavy work because ploughing through the snow is still something else than just walking uphill. Then again, it wasn't too hard either because the snow provided us with solid steps to climb on. Halfway between the tree line and the top we arrived at the weird pile of stones (see previous Pradarena post) and we took a brief rest. Already there we felt like being the kings of the world and although the sky was a bit less transparent than last time I was here, the view was still spectacular. And you could hear... absolutely nothing. Not a bird, not the slightest breeze... absolute silence.

After five minutes or so we continued. We could see the top and we were going to make it. We just had to. Still fifty metres left to climb... forty... thirty... We rushed forward, powered by adrenaline and the promise of the ultimate sensation that lay ahead. So close you could almost grasp it. And finally... we got there. You can see how proud we were, can't you?

The amazing panorama immediately took our breath away. Click on the following link for a 360° view, from northeast to northeast...

https://dl-web.dropbox.com/get/Pradarena/Panorama%20%28small%29.jpg?w=b4e4a516

Unfortunately, the wind was freezing up there, so we didn't stand there for long. A pity we hadn't brought any big plastic bags or something to slide all the way downhill. We had already done this in our field and it was great fun. But this would have been one hell of a ride! :-) Anyway, we leapt and stumbled down through the snow as if we were still kids. Boys will be boys or something... Well, at least we felt pretty much alive. Yes, you only live once and that day we truly took everything out of it that we could.

One last picture before we would disappear into the trees again...

Mr. Apennines

These days teaching English isn't going well for me anymore. It's rolling like a train! After the first school there soon followed a second one, where I now go to every Saturday morning to teach for four hours. And I've also already given two hours of "trial" lessons at a third school. The teacher there said she would also be very happy to have me to assist her, but I'm afraid that this school doesn't have the budget for this school year. Perhaps next year then? And two days ago I was contacted by school number four. This school (in the town of Ramiseto) in fact falls under the same management as the first secondary school where I now teach (in the town of Busana). It was the original intention that I would teach at both of these schools for a total of sixteen hours for the rest of the school year. But then I got the unfortunate message that the Ramiseto school had already found someone else in the mean time and so the sixteen hours were split between me and the other English mothertongue teacher. However, the real (Italian) English teacher of the Ramiseto school has now contacted me in a kind of panic. It seems that the English lady who signed up for the 8 hours there, suddenly doesn't want to come anymore and she begged me if I could take over in stead. Which I obviously gladly accepted. I found it a bit shocking that when you've not only given your word to a school, but when you've also signed a contract, a so-called "teacher" says after only one or two hours that she's not interested anymore. Not only is she letting the school down, but more importantly the kids who are so eager to learn because they realise all too well how important English has become. A real shame, that is, but on the other hand it's all the better for me.

The Italian teachers already told me how difficult it is to find an English mothertongue teacher because most of the English are either not interested or give up after a brief period. On the other hand I can understand this because teaching has to be in your blood. It's not without reason that so many teachers get a burn-out after ten or twenty years. It's very energy-consuming and at times it can be frustrating as well. But in the end, when you've managed to get something across and you feel the appreciation of the children (sometimes even with applause!), it's ever so rewarding. Yes, to my own surprise, teaching must truly be in my blood. Then again it's not so big a surprise because when I was a teenager I already taught Astronomy to younger children at the Urania observatory in Hove, near Antwerp. I really loved it back then, and today I love it just as much.

I also try to make my lessons a bit funny and to include as much interaction as possible. After all, the most difficult bit is to get the children to speak so I try to "force" them a bit. Either with the aid of games like "who am I", word riddles, bingo etc, or role plays. Lately I made a whole Powerpoint presentation about airports, from check-in to boarding and everything in between. At the end, I invited one student to be e.g. the check-in lady whereas another student had to play the passenger wanting to go to Chicago. In order to spice things up a bit, I joined the passenger queue, holding a big student's desk. I explained - and very nicely too - that I wanted to go to Chicago as well with my precious table. The check-in lady then had to try to explain that it was too big and too heavy and that I had to pay an overweight fine. Which was obviously a very unpleasant message for me so I insisted she'd call the manager. And so on... Or when we played the security screening, I suddenly became John Wayne with his gùùùn (trying to imitate a heavy cowboy's accent). And I just walked through the beeping security monitor without a care in the world. "Oh... this gùùùn? That's only for shooting pigeons. It's completely harmless..." :-)

Only the "crown jewel" is still missing on my list of schools and that is the higher secondary school of Castelnovo ne' Monti, where all the kids of the whole region go to as from the age of 15. I already had a chat with the (very friendly) Headmaster who was so sorry to inform me that she had already found someone for this school year. Indeed, just before Christmas the original teacher suddenly left for England (there you are...) but they had immediately contacted the local ministry of education in the city of Reggio Nell'Emilia and they had already found someone for them. Nevertheless the Headmaster kept repeating that I had done a very good thing by presenting myself and she definitely gave the impression that she was most interested. Perhaps for next year? A nice thing she told me was that she's a close friend of the Busana English teacher, who will undoubtedly tell her about my exploits and make some very good publicity. In the mean time I can also already present a very nice CV with references from three different schools and, of course, my TEFL licence. I WILL add that school to my list as well. It's only a question of time... hehehe... :-D

Our first visitors!

Phew! What a couple of weeks these have been! My sister-in-law and her family, including two wild girls of 11 and 14, came to visit us and the B&B part of our house was still far from finished. Actually, it was still closer to "derilict" than to "habitable". Only a concrete floor, dust and dirt everywhere, no doors, no bathroom, scattered cardboard boxes and other stuff of which we didn't know where else to put it...

So when they announced they would like to visit us, we kind of went into overdrive. I need a bit of pressure in order to get going, but this was close to madness. In a matter of weeks we had to decide about which wooden floor to put on the first floor, whether we were going to use the same tiles for the guests as in our bathroom, which bed we would order for the guests, which doors we would choose, find nice second-hand wardrobes we could restore and to do all of the actual work. In the end, we didn't really make it. The doors couldn't be ready in time (in spite of big promises), the flooring company hadn't ordered enough wood and Dopey Dwarf, the magic plummer, had made a total cock-up of the guests' bathroom. Some of the plumming had been put too deep into the wall, making it extremely difficult to connect e.g. te tap for the sink. Or the two exits on which I had to connect the shower tap were too far apart by almost a quarter inch. In the end, we hired some help with placing the tiles because we couldn't manage ourselves anymore. By the previous Sunday, when our family arrived, Christine and I were both knackered. Exhausted to the point of collapse. Fortunately Cosetta, our Italian mum, lent us a hand with the enormous cleaning job. Christine had also had to finish the plasterwork on the stairs which had created a mess you wouldn't believe. Even Thomas was surprised about it! :-)

But in the end she's done a cracking good job. I'd dare challenge all professional plasterers to do it just as well.

When my sister-in-law and her family arrived and saw our guest room, they were speechless. Even though there still weren't any doors and the toilet still has to be glued to the floor. No, not bolted because otherwise we'd probably pierce through the floor heating tubes! ;-) So it would just be a question of sitting on it very carefully. Hehehe... I'll post some pictures of the result later. Let me just conclude that they had a wonderful holiday here in Italy and that we all throughly enjoyed the warm sunshine during the outdoor lunches...

And a last picture of the two sisters...

Courtcase number 3!!!

We're going for the record!!! :-D 9 months in Italy and I'm already involved in 3 courtcases! I dare anyone to do better, hehehe!

It was to be expected that Nasty Little Nezio would go sulking and moaning with his sollicitor, not coincidentally Big bad Danilo's little nephew. This courtcase isn't cast in stone yet. For the moment his sollicitor has only sent us a very polite registered letter, asking us to pay our good friend Nezio 37.000€ plus 200€ for "sollicitor's intervention". Failure to do so within two weeks will result in further legal action. This figure is, of course, vastly exaggerated and is based on Nezio's calculation, totally neglecting the fact that Nezio can't count. If you subtract the things he counted twice or the works he had planned to do but hasn't carried out, the total is already down by a third.

Unfortunately for Nezio, I don't think he has already informed his sollicitor about the "slight" water problem we're having. It's only a minor detail, I know, but nevertheless I think that his sollicitor would like to know about it. So our sollicitor will take the burden off Nezio and inform him herself with a very kind reply letter. She will also include the expert's report that will soon be finished. The expert eventually found the drainage tube, just put in the ground like that without any cloth to keep the holes in the tube from being covered in dirt. The tube was also laid at a measured depth of... 30cm, whereas our foundations go down as much as 70-80cm. And this measurement was carried out somewhere half way. Since this tube is supposed to be laid in a slope, we can only guess what the depth at the beginning would be. According to the expert there is no doubt where the water in our walls originates from. The problem now is that since we had a wall constructed behind our house to stop the hill from crumbling down, there is no more room for a crane or bobcat to make excavations behind the house. Whoever is going to repair the damages will probably have to dig by hand. Through thick clay and rock.

But I haven't told you the best bit yet. A couple of days ago, we received a visit from the local stone cutter. He's a very friendly man but he had a very delicate message. He had already been asking our good friend Nezio about the money the latter owed him for the external window sills on our house (which had already been installed in autumn 2009). And do you know what Nezio told him?

- "They refuse to pay me so if you want your money you'll have to ask them!"

So that's why the poor stone cutter came to visit us. We explained that we indeed had paid Nezio. We've paid him about 3/4 of the total amount due and we've certainly paid him for the works carried out over a year ago. And then we've showed him our internal walls. The man's eyes opened so wide that his eyeballs almost popped out. He immediately understood what a nasty trick Nezio had played on him. He also showed us the total amount due. It was about 600€. This gave Christine a shock and when the man had gone, she immediately leapt upstairs to find her notes. In Nezio's estimate, he claims that the materials for the window sills, installation excluded, amounted to almost 1.150€! Nearly twice as much! We had already found a couple of serious discrepancies between Nezio's price for the materials and their real price. But this was obviously a rip off.

So, what are we going to do? We are going to the stone cutter and pay him his 600€. Not only will it make this man very happy, it'll also be another blow to Nezio because we can then subtract another 1.150€ from his bill. "Ah... of course, because we've already paid for the window sills! You asked the stone cutter to send his bill to us, didn't you?"

Oh... I'm really beginning to enjoy this! :-D

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...