A visit to the doctors, Italian style

Three things happened today that made me feel more 'Italian' than English, it started with a trip to the doctors.

It may be different in larger towns and cities but here in our tiny mountain village a trip to the doctors is a social event.  There are no appointments to be had, no receptionist to get past, providing the doctor has turned up and unlocked the door, you're in.  Everyone waits and chats, there is no queue or system, they all seem to know who is next and if someone 'jumps' the non-existent queue, no-one seems to care.  A lady next to us asked if we were the 'Inglese di Tineggiori', once confirmed she went on to talk about the heat, pigs, chickens and ask if we'd seen the fox yet? Thankfully we haven't.

While sitting waiting for my turn (it took two older ladies opposite to tell me when it was), I tried to work out why it felt so different, then I realised what was amusing me, instead of the copious posters and health related information that I was so used to being fed in the doctors waiting rooms of my past, mainly telling me what I was no longer allowed to eat/drink/consume/do, these two pictures were the only ones to decorate the walls . . . . . 

The second thing happened when I came back to the car after a visit to the supermarket only to realise that, after many years of OCDish parking, this is how I had parked the car, a bit too straight and in the space for a true Italian but not bad for an old English bird! 

Finally I didn't scream or even leave the bathroom when I looked down and realised I was sharing my shower with a scorpion!

The weather seems to have finally broken and we're all a lot more comfortable. 

Best Wishes and Much Love to You from Tineggiori ♥

Heatwave

During all the years I spent dreaming about a move abroad I had one vision firmly planted in my mind, it was a vision of a long wooden table full of wonderful food and wine, surrounded by family and friends.  The setting was equally important, it would be outside, with trees and a climbing wisteria casting shadows forming a dappled pattern across the table in the sunshine. The only sounds I'd hear were laughter and crickets.  Can you see it? 

Well I finally have the setting . . . . . 

The reality is somewhat different, whilst I don't want to sound as though I'm complaining, I'm really not, I just found it amusing to realise that the image I nurtured over the years brought the words rose, glasses and coloured to mind :-D

The truth is it's far too hot to sit outside and if you do manage to ignore the copious amounts of sweat leaving your body, you are likely to be plagued by flies, eaten alive by mosquitoes and perhaps bitten by a spider!

I take comfort from the fact that I'm assured by the locals (and the lack of the sound of chainsaws working in the forrest) that this is not 'normal' summer weather for this area, with temperatures in the mid to late 30's and humidity at over 90% they also keep promising that the heatwave is going to break tomorrow, I'm still waiting . . . .

Meanwhile Andy is working in the UK for a few weeks to bring home some much needed cash, I'm a little envious of his weather reports :-)

We are still up and outside by 7am, the tomatoes which we transplanted far too late are finally producing fruit, I'm not sure if they'll ripen so we may be making green tomato chutney come autumn.  We have a bumper harvest of cucumbers and are collecting upto 18 a day 

We've eaten them for breakfast, fed some to the pigs and chickens and made sweet cucumber relish, I'm working on a recipe for cucumber and mint jelly based on a recipe I use for making sweet chili jam.  I'll post recipes and photos later.

The ducklings and bantam chicks are thriving . . . . 

I hope I don't offend anyone with my complaints, we may be short on money and long on heat but this incredible journey has given me not only the skill to be able to distinguish which bug just bit me, but the ability to take great pleasure from the smallest achievements and the realisation that I don't 'need' nearly as much stuff as I thought I did ♥

Much Love from Tineggiori xx