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Tuesday 27th May 2014

Craig’s 38th Birthday!

Nothing special on the agenda here at La Torretta so after breakfast we drive into Pierantonio, a small town on the way to Umbertide. Here we find a nice little coffee bar where we can get as good a coffee as we have had on this trip and some tasty pastries to increase our carbohydrate intake. I also find a pharmacy and manage to explain to the chemist that my ears are blocked. Hopefully the ear drops prescribed will do the trick.

Italian driving is providing us with a constant source of entertainment and while in Pierantonio we came down narrow street to find a car parked at a T junction, totally blocking the way. After a little investigation I found out that the female owner was at a house next to the junction having a coffee break. With a grin on her face she drove off in the car to let us get away and promptly returned to the same spot to inconvenience the next driver.

G and M are also able at Pierantonio to buy some food for lunch from the local shops and street market. On arrival back at the villa John goes off for a midday nap, which is apparently a common occurrence at home, while the rest of us have lunch.

The very unreliable internet connection here is driving us crazy but fortunately we have no problems getting through to Craig on Skype to wish the young fellow a happy birthday.  We have a good half hour chat which is the next best thing to being able to have our usual birthday meal together in Aus.

With the weather again looking a bit threatening J and I decide to go on a hike through some of the countryside below our villa. Surprise, surprise the heavens open within 10 minutes of our setting off. Our need to shelter under a tree for a while results in another amusing moment as J starts building a makeshift shelter from the rain with the branches from the tree. As he explained, this was where his 2 years military training came in handy! Not being able to benefit from such training I just stood under the tree but seemed to emerge after the 10 minute break just as dry as John.

The walking trails around these parts are not marked, so we found ourselves stomping through farm paddocks and over a creek before arriving back on the main road to our villa. The last 3 kms was up a fairly steep incline but we both came through with flying colours , albeit looking a bit dishevelled .

Our evening meal is at a restaurant in Pierantonio and M and G order what they believe to be a lamb casserole. Unfortunately, it turns out to be some sort of kidney casserole, which M hates, so we swap dishes. I love kidney so it turns out fine for all concerned.

This is our first meal at a local restaurant , complete with the TV blaring out with some sort of quiz show, but it’s always good to experience such things.

The drive back to the villa is uneventful except for the repeated attempts by the two girls to correctly pronounce the name of the town Umbertide, with the accent on the ‘ber’. M masters this better than G but they both feel that life would be much simpler if it could be pronounced in much the same way as ‘ Humberside’ in the UK!

Cheers

The Obese Ferret.