Council tax, central heating and translation
We have been grappling with the minutiae of daily life today. We have visited the estate agent who has responsibilities for our building and after a nice chat about this and that he handed over a surprising, and unwelcome, bunch of documents. These documents refer to our apparent, and, as so nicely put in the letter, obviously inadvertent failure to pay our council tax in 2008 and 2009. As I was reading the letter I reflected on the likelihood that, if this were to have happened in the UK, we should be threatened with a court appearance a visit from the bailiffs and a stiff fine.
On a more mundane level, the weather is still cloudy and rainy with this state of affairs being blamed on Poppea. Classicists among you will know that Poppea was the mistress and, later, wife of the Emperor Nero. In modern Italy Poppea is the first Mediterranean storm of autumn but, apparently, this is not really the end of summer and Bacchus will return. We have also, lately enjoyed the attentions of Nero, from the perspective of meteorologists that is, not a return to an earlier and more heavy handed form of government.
The poorer weather has prompted me to try out the central heating in order to get any maintenance done before the weather becomes much colder. Since moving in the central heating has been a source of many surprises for us. At first the only way to get the heat on in our bedroom was to turn on the thermostat in the spare bedroom. This resulted in an overly warm bedroom as the heat was either full on or full off. This thermostatic inexactitude was echoed in other parts of the house, but our infrequent visits meant that we have done little about it as we have a log burning stove as back up. The room thermostats are very flimsy devices each powered by three small batteries. These batteries seem to fail very quickly and none appear to be working now. So we shall grasp the nettle firmly and get a plumber in to provide adequate controls. We shall have heat in the correct room. It will be controlled by us and not by a mysterious force.
During a visit to the local coop for some provisions this morning the proprietor asked me if there was an Italian version of this blog. I really should put a machine translator onto the thing but am a bit bothered about the strange results that can emerge. Although, it might be an innocent amusement to see what comes out of the other end of a Google type translation.
Like others who have been posting since you reached ‘casa vostra’ I am addicted to your blog as my bedtime reading. I am fascinated by the classical nomenclature for Italian weather systems. I symathise too with problems with central heating thermostats. Our sitting room radiator seems to be willfully uncooperative. These things have no national boundaries :-\.
I look forward too to more local walk descriptions.
Keep blogging please 😉
Thanks Jelly, have you kicked the blighter yet? The radiator, not Dave. I’m sure that you kick him regularly.
Have you got your central heating placards made up yet? “We shall have heat in the correct room” “It will be controlled by us” Or obviously the Italian translation…. for comedy possibly, courtesy of googletranslate… “Avremo calore nella stanza corretta” ” Sarà controllato da noi”
You paint a wonderful picture but our solution will probably be rather dull and uninteresting, at least I hope that it will be dull and uninteresting..
Never met you, don’t know you but oh my god this blog is brilliant! So amusing and inspirational, I have a feeling my husband might wish I’d never heard of the whole strolling idea. May be not as far as Italy, start small eh! …. who knows?
Is there any more info about how or why you got started, have you always enjoyed strolling, are you going to be publishing a ‘how to’ guide with all the pitfalls to avoid included?
Thanks again – enjoy a bit of rest.
Thank you for posting and saying such nice things about the blog.
We started to stroll about in a languid sort of manner 10 or 15 years ago. We have a permanent residence on Gravels Bank near Minsterley and used to wander about over Bromlow Callow from time to time.
Janet, my strolling partner and wife, copied extracts from her diary which explain when and why we decided to stroll to Italy. The following link should take you to the relevant bit of the blog http://wp.me/P2BPwi-u
Just now catching up on the whole process – & progress (a break from ‘doing the accounts’ – and planning other people’s journeys).
Congratulations~!
I particularly liked the way in which the final part was so naturally mundane…. truly real…. a great effort, almost a dream… but in the end we are arriving back home…… and the blog conveys that strange sense of ordinariness after a Great Event, one that I guess most readers will relate to in some way or another…. and which always feels so curious…. as if there should be something more!….. maybe the thunderstorm can be viewed as a result of you challenging ‘The Normal & Ordinary’….
So …. as might be said: meraviglioso, splendido, stupendo, fantastico, formidabile, prodigioso, miracoloso
………. eccetera
Thank you Ian. Arrival at a destination is almost bound to be mundane after a wonderful journey. Do have any journeys planned for our part of Europe?
Venice & Perugia in late November (we have a sort of ex-family, family (divorced) in Umbria.
and I really am struck …. quite deeply actually, by the way you described your gradual approach
Enough sentimentality – busy with a wonderful little stove in the garden & fantastic pork…….. yes ……. summer has arrived!