Month: December 2021

 

We have spent three weeks in a tuscan villa perched in the hills above Rome with Child One’s Italian fiancee and her family.  I had only met her mother briefly after R’s funeral and never met her father but we arrived here, complete with our dogs, Sunny and Rainbow to spend Christmas.  They are very brave.

Rome is the most beautiful, breathtaking and serene city I have been to and, considering the circumstances (Brexit and Covid) the people are incredibly welcoming and friendly.  But the scenery!  Every corner has a secret, every building has history.  I know a  little about the Roman Empire mostly from Spartacus and the Life of Brian, I’d like to add I Claudius but I can’t but nothing prepared me for the reality.

The beautiful Mama Rosella and I spent a week exploring on our own while the others worked.  We visited the Imperial Forum and stayed for hours, searched the churches for hidden masterpieces, my new favourite artist is Caravaggio, we saw work by Canaletto, Michael Angelo and so many others. She showed me her city and I was entranced.

I loved it and her as each day I felt myself uncurl.

Lucky arrived by aeroplane on Thursday, we immediately introduced him to Roman food by means of a restaurant belonging to a family friend.  Pasta as a starter, a steak as big as his plate and he was hooked!

We all went to Pompeii – we could only go for a day because of the dogs which wasn’t enough – we will go back, we barely saw half of it.  My two offspring went off by themselves on a body hunt which left me to spend as long a I liked looking at things and absorbing the place.

We went to the seaside, a 30km beach, ate vongole which the Italian had been craving for months, they have a summer home at the sea because it’s too hot in Rome in the summer.

I must describe the dogs, Sunny is as noisy as can be, Rainbow an adorable and gorgeous puppy, Bart is an elderly old gentleman and Lisa is an  absolutely lovable walking dustbin.  They formed themselves into a little gang, teaching each other dreadful things, Rainbow covered the whole house in sticks, Sunny and Lisa emptied the fireplace, Bart sat quietly observing them and expending discipline as necessary.  We were very careful to remember to put food away but on our last night Child One had placed a bowl of cooked endive in the middle of the kitchen table, hearing a noise I ventured upstairs to see Lisa in the middle of the table exactly like a mountain goat, finishing the last of the vegetables!

It has been a fabulous holiday and a wonderful Italian Christmas with a beautiful family who have welcomed us into their home and their lives.  I hope they forgive me for bringing a Christmas pudding and setting actual fire to it in their microwave (underestimated the power) leaving behind us the gentle aroma of burnt sugar and raisins that will take days to dissipate.

We head home today, Lucky and I, the girls go home by plane.   We had planned to spend a few days exploring together, choosing where to spend new year.  We can’t, France won’t let us, we have to be in Calais within 48 hours of leaving Italy.  I am currently at the bottom of the Alps, cosy and warm in my bunk with Lucky and the dogs ‘downstairs’ listening to the wind blowing down from the mountains.  We’re crossing via Mont Blanc tunnel tomorrow and hope the French let us pass.

 

 

I did it, I drove on the wrong side of the road all the way to Rome!

We made it to the channel tunnel in time, checked in the dogs and went straight to the train.  The dogs were ok with the pressure change, Sunny cried last time but I think that was more to do with his lack of space than anything else!  We drove off and I kept repeating to myself ‘stay at the edge’.  It worked perfectly and we drove without incident to Dijon.  Stopping for a picnic and to let the dogs stretch their legs on the way we ended up in a tiny village outside the city we found a beautiful campsite (we couldn’t actually tell it was beautiful until the morning).  The restaurant was open and we had a delicious meal, fabulous local wine and the girls had cocktails.

It rained in the night, two dogs and mud up to our knees, trying to keep everything clean convinced Child One that she prefers a hotel with an ensuite.  I knew there was a reason we call her a princess.

The next day we found the most delicious bakery and ate while we drove to Bologna through the alps.  It was exactly like driving on a Christmas cake until the snow started.  Pretty little flakes, us oohing and aahing in the car with Christmas songs playing, as we drove on it got thicker and thicker until we could hardly see, it got a bit scary, we couldn’t decide whether to stop and  put on the snow chains, which none of us knew how to do.  Suddenly, out of nowhere a snow plough appeared and we followed it until we were in the clear.  Bit different to snow at home!

We went through the Mont Blanc tunnel and down the mountains with our ears popping and stopped for pizza at a service station.  I was informed that mine was spinach and sausage but it tasted of fish, I thought that it was off but apparently they had given me spinach and anchovy by mistake, bit of a shock!  Not a fan.

We stayed at an immaculate campsite outside Bologna and went for supper with the Italian’s brother – utterly delicious, not an anchovy in site and 50 year old balsamic, which I naively asked if I could put on salad, it wasn’t until later that I found out how precious it is!

We stayed in Bologna for the morning as the Italian had to work, Child one and I walked around the town which is fabulous and well worth a return trip, especially to see the statues.  We got mortadella rolls from the deli round the corner from the brother’s house, left at about two and drove the rest of the way to Roma!

As it took me eight goes to pass my driving test I’m feeling pretty proud of myself now!

We had a plan, Child one and the Italian were to arrive at my home at nine thirty in the morning on Friday, where they would both work until 4, whereupon we would pack the car and prepare everything for the 6am departure.

I had planned to do my packing on Thursday afternoon so it really all went wrong when my lovely B offered me a haircut which I obviously accepted,  This meant I hadn’t packed when I went to bed on Thursday night and was unprepared for  the email I received from Eurotunnel telling me I needed a Covid test before I left for France.  I dutifully booked three tests for 11am the following morning.

Sunny was booked into the groomers at 9, I took him, expecting the girls to be there when I got home.  The car the girls had rented was late being collected, so I changed the time for the test.  The paperwork for the dog was ready at the vet at 8am.  The girls forgot to collect it, realised half way up the M4 and had to go back to London.  The Italian had a meeting which meant they wouldn’t be able to leave before 1pm thus missing their Covid tests, after 45 minutes on hold I had given up trying to change them again.  I rushed to Sainsbury’s to buy food for the trip (forgetting most of it) and drove to Swindon to take my test.  The girls booked different tests for later.

Baby F was coming at 3 to give our Chilean the chance to check out a nursery and the moment he arrived the groomer phoned to say Sunny was ready.  I had taken out the car seat and our baby wasn’t feeling very well.  I tucked him under one arm and carried the seat back to the car to collect the dog.   By the time I got home I had lost the impetus to organise anything so I went ahead and packed the car with the bedding and food, bravely assisted by my sister.  The girls arrived and we had to pretend that their dog hadn’t been in the rental car so Child one had to hide around the corner.  They left the paperwork for the dog in the rental car.

They remembered just in time.

We then had to drive to Reading for additional covid tests by which time it was dark.  Waiting for the traffic lights to change a lady in a delightful white Mercedes decided to take the opportunity drive into the back of Vanley.

So here we are, not properly packed, no covid tests, white car attached to Vanley’s arse, causing a massive traffic jam in Newbury and supposed to leave in less than 12 hours.

Luckily Vanley has a tow bar, a big chunk of metal which caused the front of the white car to collapse and not actually touch my lovely van at all.  We exchanged insurance details, my Sister took photos, looked at the driver sternly and we left her in the middle of the road, she even tried to cause further damage by driving into the side Vanley but the Italian stopped her.

We headed to Reading, running late and two Covid tests were taken and were negative.  We were so hungry we ate drive through McDonalds…….

We leave at 6 am and I have only driven Vanley overseas twice, each time for less than an hour and on familiar roads.

We drove home, chucked the cases in the car and went to bed.