Made it to Campomarino

 The past couple of days have been both a whirlwind at times and relaxing other times. Every summer, I get anxious without any work to do, but it seems to go away within a week. This year, it lasted only a day or two, and now I feel pretty ready to relax.

I took the train from Milan to Termoli, the town just north of mine yesterday. The seat was comfy, the views amazing, but the AC was broken and I was just sitting in the heat for 5 and a half hours. I walked out of the train station in Termoli and there were no taxis waiting. I saw a man waiting under the taxi sign, so I asked if he was a taxi driver, which he was not, but he asked me if he could drive me to my place in Campomarino for only 20 euros. This was cheaper than a cab, and I didn't feel like waiting another hour and a half for a bus (which would have then included a mile walk through town with luggage). So I took him up on the offer. He was an older man in his 60s who I had zero fear of. He told me that on busy days he waits by the station for people that need rides and offers to take them. Kind of like an analog Uber driver. 

When I reached my place, the first thing I noticed was the nice, new cement driveway, with marked parking spots. It is a beautiful, far cry from the broken up asphalt we had for the first 22 years of ownership. It looks really nice, but is really bright white in the sun. 

Every year, the house has some sort of problem that needs to be solved. Giovanni, my gardener and my go to for just about anything I need since he lives in town year round, had already been and cleaned up his clippings. So the garden was good. Though, he did discover a bees nest is constructed underground, under our lemon tree. He used an entire can of spray, but it did not work totally. I added some insecticide powder, and I covered up the entry and exit hole with a heavy flat rock. So the nest is taking care of itself.

The gate we use to enter and exit the property is another issue. The bottom hinge was rusted shut, and when me, my neighbor, and a fabro (iron worker) pushed on the gate, it opened a bit, but bent the rusting metal a bit. The fabro, luckily, just happened to be here working on the car gate for the condo complex driveway. He came by to look at it, then returned this evening to fix it. Like power tools and welding, all for 30 euros ($35).  Though safety was not a concern. Sparks flying everywhere with nothing protective covering their eyes. Now the power doesn't unlock the gate from inside like normal, so that has to get fixed by an electrician, and I need to get it painted as well. So it's functional, but not back to completely normal.

I wasted no time yesterday. Figuring that I wouldn't setup the patio with table and chairs while the gate was sitting wide open, I decided to sweep and mop the patio last night from 9-11. My neighbors thought I was crazy, but it got done. 

Today I locked the gate as best I could with a couple of bike locks chained together, then went out and picked up some supplies for the house. I was able to buy pounds of patate (potatoes), pomodorini (little tomatoes), zucchini, pepperoni rossi (red pepers), melanzane (eggplant), cetrioli (cucumber), karote (carrots), basilico (basil), aglio (garlic), cipolle bianca (white onions), netorine (nectorines), and prezzemolo (parsley) at the farmers market. Then I picked up some pane (bread) at the bakery; lettuga (lettuce), vino binco (white wine), fazzoletti (tissues), and  parmagiano reggiano formaggio (cheese) at the market; finally I stopped for four of each fette di tachino e pollo (filets of turkey and chicken). In total, it all cost me about 35 euros to have food for a week.  

I went to the beach today to pay for my reserved umbrella, but I didn't stay since I was waiting for the workmen. It was a good day though. I got some more cleaning done inside, did some cooking, washed and dried two loads of laundry, wrote some ideas for movie scripts, and rested a bit. Looking forward to the beach tomorrow.