The Year of the Horse: 2013 Review.

For 1.354 billion Chinese people the Year of the Horse begins at the end of next month; it started for us on the 21st March when Pat's horse, Daisy, finally arrived at the livery stables near Amandola. Pat's passion for riding had been rekindled by the magnificent holiday in Ireland Sophy treated her to last year, and it wasn't long before she wanted to own a horse again. After a sticky start to the year when she fell and broke her shoulder, we eventually settled on the beautiful Andalusian pictured above.
  March was also memorable for our visit to Sophy and Adam in Dubai where her proud parents witnessed their elder daughter gain a place on the podium in the Spinney's Cup.

Early in June my life entered extra time - an event celebrated with family and friends at a garden party at Candy's house in Upwell. James came over from Australia and Matthew and his wife Charlie supplied us with a mini marquee. Sophy supplied the drinks but, alas, was prevented from leaving Dubai by an Emirati jobsworth.

The psalm which famously tells us that 'The days of our years are threescore and ten" continues "and if by reason of our strength they be fourscore years, yet is their strength labour and sorrow". The severe bout of sciatica I suffered in the early part of the year suggests  the psalmist's likely to be proved right. The pain went after a few months but I'm left with a permanent limp.

   In July Dave came over to Italy to accompany me to the Leonard Cohen concert in Rome for which Matthew and James had very generously bought me tickets.

   In October I had a trip to the mountains of Abruzzo with Peppe and Angiola 

which took in the earthquake devastated city of L'Aquila:

   As usual, Pat made several visits to the UK to look after Quinn while Candy was away on business. I went over in November to attend Dave's belated celebration of his seventieth:

to look after Quinn and to attend the OEs' Bristol dinner with Mike Jefferies and Chris Vincent. In this photo my old form-mate Chris "Umpter" Northover (centre) as outgoing President hands over his chain of office to another of my friends and contemporaries, Geoff "Dwarf" Beynon, (left) while the Lord Mayor looks on:

The day after the dinner, Mike, his wife Pam, Chris and I  had an enjoyable excursion to the Wye Valley.

We had a hot summer and temperatures  remained in the twenties until virtually the end of October. November, however, saw a precipitous drop in temperature with heavy snow at the end of the month - and I'm not talking about the couple of centimetres which brings the UK to its knees.

Let's hope the weather's better in 2015 as from that year ex-pat pensioners will no longer be eligible for the winter fuel allowance.

  November's snow was followed by torrential rain early this month which not only removed the snow but huge chunks from a large number of roads as well, including the one below Montefalcone's town walls.

We are expecting a particularly enjoyable family Christmas this year as both Sophy and Adam and Candy and Quinn will be joining us in the flesh, whilst we hope to FaceTime - Apple's version of Skype - Matthew and Charlie and James, Gabriel, Ruby and Olly.

Tenth Anniversary

Today marks the 10th anniversary of our move to that magical place beyond the clouds - Montefalcone Appennino.

"The thin night darkens. A breeze from the creased water

sighs the streets close under Milk waking Wood. The Wood,

whose every tree-foot's cloven in the black glad sight of

the hunters of lovers, that is a God-built garden to Mary

Ann Sailors who knows there is Heaven on earth and the

chosen people of His kind fire in Llaregyb's land, that is

the fairday farmhands' wantoning ignorant chapel of

bridesbeds, and, to the Reverend Eli Jenkins, a greenleaved

sermon on the innocence of men, the suddenly wind-shaken

wood springs awake for the second dark time this one

Spring day."

The Courtyard Circular: October and November 2013.

October.

After a wet and relatively cold spell at the beginning of the month the weather improved  and remained good until October was almost over -  22º at San Lorenzo on the 28th - before rain arrived on the 29th and the temperature dropped to the mid-teens.

  Pat was in England from the 6th to the 12th but Tony and Shona arrived for the Sagra on the 7th, Jane on the 5th and John and Judi on the 11th. I had lunch at Peppe and Angiola's together with Tony and Shona on the 10th and Pat and I had supper with the Cairns at the Taverna on the 17th.

 On the 20th Peppe and Angiola took me to visit Calascio a village in the Monti della Laga in Abruzzo:

 

We then went on to L'Aquila which despite Berlusconi's promise to rebuild the city quickly still looks like a modern version of Pompei over four years after the earthquake which killed 297 people in the city and its hinterland.

Click here to see other photos of the trip.

October's other positive event was finding Meg safe and well after she had disappeared overnight on the 23rd.

Now for the bad news! 

November.

Things have continued to fall apart. Although I got the computer back with a new graphics card last month the coffee machine decided to pack up at the beginning of November, just before I went to the UK for Dave's seventieth, and to look after Quinn and attend the OEs' Bristol dinner. We took it to Porto d'Ascoli to be repaired when I got back, picked it up last Saturday and found that the problem was still there so I've taken it back today.

   Snow arrived on the 25th, and on the 26th I woke to find it had snowed very heavily overnight. 

It began thawing on the 28th.

  Although my computer was repaired gratis, it ended up costing me 80 euros as I managed to be caught twice by speed cameras: the first time going to Ascoli to take the computer to be repaired and the second when I went to pick it up.

  

The Sprawl of the House of Escher.

Montefalcone is perched on a cliff two and a half thousand feet above sea level. For a Westcountryman, who'd been exiled to the East Anglian fens for over thirty years, that is one of its many attractions. Except in winter. Once the snow has been ploughed the residual layer is soon compacted by the incessant motorised traffic - like the English, the Italians will never walk anywhere if they can drive, no matter how narrow the street - into treacherous ice, making walking round the village a hazardous enterprise. In winter my thrice daily walk with the dogs - we have no garden, and dog faeces wouldn't add to the attractiveness of our 16th century courtyard - changes from an idyll to a nightmare. Two dogs pulling on their leads while you climb up an ice covered street isn't much fun. Going down the slope, though, is even worse, and unfortunately if you go up a hill during your walk logic dictates you must inevitably walk down one to return to your starting point. 

  For many years we were perplexed, and impoverished, by Enel - the Italian electricity company - charging us the higher rate applicable to non-residents. Then one day we noticed that the bill related to 34 Via Roma but was invoiced to 18 Via San Pietro. It took several years to convince Enel that the two addresses related to the same property. For our house sprawls over a slope: the front door and cantinas are accessed from Via Roma whereas if you enter the house from Via San Pietro you find yourself on the floor above. 

   And this has proved a blessing when going shopping in winter. As you can see from the map I can climb up the hill where the village shop is located and return home with my purchases without ever having to go back down it.  

So in this case Escher triumphs over logic; if only it were always so.