Gosh it's been a long time .....

OK - so after the disappointments in summer 2008 I gave up the blog and concentrated on getting the house finished. And I'm delighted to say it now is nad we've lareasdy got several booknigs for the summer so if you want to see what has been achieved, visit the new website at www.villa-ilmelo.com

Update

Sorry I've not been much of a blogger for a while. We spent the summer in Italy where there was no internet access and came home so pissed off with the whole thing that I haven't felt like setting finger to keyboard since.

To cut a very long story short - we were promised a house we could stay in and arrived to find a building site. Over the next week or so the builders worked incredibly hard to give us somewhere we could stay and almost managed it except for one small problem: the electricity connection hadn't been ordered in time. After some weeks of promises (and our good friend Luca personally calling the provincial director) we finally got a cable laid to the house. Sadly this proved to be a false dawn because it stopped at the top of our neighbour's pole a tantalising 6 inches short of the mains cable to which it needed to be hooked up. Everyday we looked and every day it remained resolutely unconnected. A state that only changed (wouldn't you know it) two days after we left.

Oh well - it will be finished for Christmas (or somebody's coglione will be hanging from the tree!)

It's all going wrong ....

.... or rather not going very much at all.

Two weeks till we are supposed to arrive to fit the house out and we have no doors and windows and, I've just found out, no electricity cable. It was ordered in October and nobody thought to tell me that it hadn't come until this week. they were supposed to phone the geometra today but, of course they haven't.

At least we can use candles - or a generator - bit if there's no doors and windows we are totally stuffed. You can't put a kitchen in or deliver furniture to a house that's wide open. They were supposed to be ready for painting today but it looks like we'll be lucky to get them by the end of next week.

So, at half past eight on a Wednesday night I'm booing a 6:30 flight to Rome tomorrow morning. Some things are better done in person and I think I need to get over there and try to sort things out. (The plan originally was to hire a van and go over at he start of July with a load stuff for the house but the delay on the windows knocked that on the head - in retrospect I should have gone for a quick visit anyway).

Speaking and writing Italian - a turning point

Somebody who lives in Italy recently complimented me on my good Italian (as seen in my emails). They didn't realise what a cheat I am. Well, perhaps not a cheat but I do have help. There are two absolutely vital websites that I rely on:

Firstly there is Free Translation. Type in a few words or a few hundred in one language, click a button and out it pops in another. Now let's be honest that, although it pops out in another language, it doesn't exactly come out in, say, perfect Italian. The grammar can be odd, it doesn't always handle colloquial expressions and it's not good at distinguishing synonyms or verbs from nouns so you need to understand enough of the target language to read it through and make corrections. But what it is good for is to make a quick, "gisted" translation as a basis for doing a final version. And, of course, the final version is still not going to be perfect but should, with a bit of effort, be enough to get your meaning across. And it also works the other way so you can at least get the idea of what somebody is saying. Here for example is an email from my geometra that I've just put through FT:


I send you the drawing of the local the washing machine we can put it in the bath, because the local boiler has been better that has the outside door.

Not perfect - but you do get what he's trying to say.

And I've just realised that I've taken a step forward in my use of the language without even being aware of it. Because I no longer write things out in English and put them through Free Translation. I now write in Italian then put it through the translator to check it. And that really is a big step, I think. What this process also does is act as a spell checker because what you get bundled into Office etc. is only English and Spanish.

An alternative to Free Translation is Google Translate which often seems to make a translation into English that sounds better and more fluent than FT does. Anyway, try them out and see which you prefer.

And both of these let you translate web pages too, just by entering the URL.

The second one is Word Reference which is an online dictionary - and much more. As well as word definitions it has heaps of expressions and you can put in a phrase ("in my opinion" for example) and get the correct colloquial Italian rendition(s). And if that isn't enough there are also forums for discussions on more complex points. You can also install the dictionary on your toolbar so the answer is always just a click away. If you are interested in other languages there are also dictionaries for French and Spanish with Portuguese promised soon.

One more thing: these sites are free! Wordreference is the work of an American called Mike Kellogg and financed by (non-intrusive) advertising. Freetranslation also offers a paid for platinum online tool as well as human translation. I've never needed the latter but do subscribe to the platinum service which doesn't cost much ($9.95 a year or about £5) and is worthwhile if you deal with large volumes of text - the free version has a word limit and I was dealing with some lengthy Spanish contracts at the time (I'm not sure if Google translate has any word limit). It also has options like formal or informal language that Google doesn't seem to have.

Heart in mouth time - how is the house getting on?

I Noci, clad in scaffolding, seen from the river Tenna - with Monte San Martino in the distance.

We decided not to visit the house on the way down yesterday on the grounds that if there was anything we didn't like, it would be better to see it with Gianluigi and Mariano who would probably be able to explain things and put our minds at rest.

The funny thing with building is that it really does seem to go in fits and starts. So one time you'll arrive and be amazed by how much has happened and another time by how little. This time unfortunately was more of the latter. It was almost two months after all and, apart from the fact that the roof was finally off, progress seemed to have been pretty slow. In fact there was a lot of detail work (e.g. all the door and window frames) and most of the internal walls were in but it all felt a bit disappointing. Having said that it was, in contrast to previous visits, all hands to the pump with half a dozen guys all working away rather than the unusual two. We also had the sparks and plumber on hand and were able to go through all the detailed planing of where every bath, shower, toilet, light and electrical supply would go. The sparks is particularly good with suggestions, not only to do with electrics and sound general advice too.

There's some really thoughtful stuff going on too. For example in the the window sill of the small downstairs sitting room, Mariano has cut in two holes. Mystified, we ask what they are for. Gianluigi explains it is a traditional thing for cooking - you put embers from the fire in the bottom and the pot on the top. Mariano thought we ought to have one. Great!

After a while it gets a bit overwhelming with having to make so many decisions in such a short time and we are reeling by the time we leave to meet our lawyer Luca - he's offered to buy us lunch. As we drove up the lane to leave we stop to enjoy the view. At this time of year there are poppies everywhere and it reminds us of why we chose this wonderful spot:


Lunch at the Hotel Roverino in Comunanza with Luca, his assistant Beatrice and several of Luca's cronies (including Bea's dad). This is where all the business people of this little town go for their long, liquid lunches. On the next table are the entire staff of my bank and not far away is the President of the Province. It's Friday which means fantastic fish. Afterwards Luca takes us all to see a fantastic old palazzo in the old town which he is doing up into holiday apartments - heavily assisted by government grants. Luca is an ultra-modernist so it's all going to be glass floors and hi-tech although he will keep the frescoes with his family's coat of arms (which he also has as a tattoo.) After that, we do the mundane business of taking out insurance. And then off to Elettro Idea to buy kitchen appliances. Turns out they are a client of Luca's so he insists on coming with us to make sure we get the best price and leaving Beat to help interpret while he gos off to a meeting. We get top quality / top name appliances (Smeg range cooker, AEG fridge freezer, Siemens dishwasher - really important for marketing and to differentiate our property from the competition) and the prices are very good - although the extra discount we get from being friends of Luca doesn't amount to much.

Dinner at Contrada Durano again (and we notice they have window sills with those cooking holes). The only other guests are a pair of American veggies so most of the food is veggie (apart from our main) which is very accommodating of them but not very appetising for us. And too much alcohol again - so decide to give it a miss tomorrow. We'll probably be going for a pizza with friends anyway.

Chris had been in touch with Jimmy before we even booked to stay there, via the Italymag forum, and he had recommended a furniture shop in Servigliano which they had used extensively. Nice people (brother and sister Enrico & Forestina Marini), good prices for good quality stuff. And they also do kitchens. Concetta said they would ring Forestina in the morning and let her know we would be coming.

Thursday - Stansted to the Marche

How civilised is Stansted? So spacious and with enough lines for security that there’s no queuing at all and then at the other end Ancona is always a pleasure. We were originally going to hurry down to the house for a meeting with geometra, builder etc. at 4:30. But we found out that there is a very cheap furniture shop in Tolentino which is on the way, about half way between Ancona and Monte San Martino. Unfortunately, all we know is that it is in the industrial estate near an orange supermarket (presumably a big orange shop, not a big shop that sells oranges.)

Having been up since six with only Starbucks for breakfast, we need lunch and, since we don’t need to rush down to the house, we have time to enjoy it. The airport is actually at Falconara so we decide to head down to the coast to Falconara Marittima and see what there is. It has to be said that this is not the most attractive town on the Adriatic coast. In fact the opposite could be true because it’s where all the oil storage etc seems to be. In addition we can’t find a town centre and when we do see somewhere it’s up a one way street and we cannot get to it. So we park up beside a building site on a busy road with the oil terminal on the other side and go into a lttle café, the Trattoria da Enzo. Typcila basic café but the food is just brilliant – simple stuff: pasta fritto misto di mare but lovely fresh ingredients cooked just right. Why can’t we do this back home? (Probably because most of the people who eat here would, in the UK, want pie and chips.)

Then a pleasant drive over the back roads to Tolentino. We pass through the beautiful little town on Cingoli – a quick stroll around the pizza but definitely worth a longer visit some time. Tolentino sits on the superstrada that runs inland from Civitanova Marche and ultimately (like all roads) to Rome. We decide to follow it west out of the town and find an industrial estate but no orange supermarket and no furniture shop. So back through town the other way. We think we’ll probably have to phone Mirella at La Conca who originally told us about this place when we come across another industrial estate. Again no supermarket but there is a sign that says Fallmenti which is the name of the cheap furniture place in Amandola (see 24 March entry) so we follow the road round and, oh my god! It’s huge! There is just so much and really low prices. We have good look round and see some of it is pretty knackered so you have to be careful but we’ll definitely come back.

Then it’s off to our home for the next three nights, an agriturismo called Contrada Durano which is near to Monte San Martino, just on the other side of the Amandola –Fermo road. It’s a little borgo (hamlet / collection of buildings) on the side of a hill with great views back across the valley of the Tenna. The owners are Jimmy (English but with a family who were expat traders in Sicily for many years so is practically Italian) and Concetta, a real Sicilian.

W have about 10 minutes for a quick wash and to change and then it’s down to pre-dinner drinks. Concetta cooks everything using a lots of home grown produce and Jimmy is mine host, getting the evening going with bubbly (Prosecco) followed by a good Umani Ronchi Rosso Conero with the food and then something fruity with pudding and finishing off (and finishing me off!) mistral with the coffee. A convivial evening with other guests and some locals (though I could have done without the patronising old bag from Brighton – “oh I never go to Caffe Belli, it’s full of Brits” like you presumably dear and “do you have Waitrose up north” yes, and some of us have whippets and coal in the bath.) To bed very relaxed and ready for an early start at the house in the morning.

April – May: Operating by remote control

It’s quite hard when the biggest investment you’ve ever made is happening 1000 miles away and you rely on emails to know what’s going on. Even harder when your email isn’t working! Since we returned from Italy there were continuous problems and I spent hours on the phone to BT trying to sort them. One guy insisted that the problem must be in Outlook and so I should get on to whoever supplied the software (told him it was bought from BT). I had to be very assertive to get put through to a supervisor (“I have already spoken to supervisor and he agrees with me it is a Microsoft problem”) but I stand my ground and eventually am put through to the second tier support (i.e. the people who actually know what they are talking about.) They still don’t solve the problem but, by doing it using two different mail clients (Outlook and Outlook Express), under two different operating systems (XP and Vista) on two different machines, I am able to prove that the problem is nothing to do with any software or configuration on my PC. The conclusion is that it must be an ISP problem but as it is an intermittent fault and is not manifesting right now they can’t take it further. I suggest the other explanation is that the problem could be in the router and am told this cannot be the case – I should call back when the problem occurs again (which it does every few hours). Even if it can’t possibly be in the router my experience, going back to programming on Cobol in the seventies, tells me to try the impossible so I power down the router and leave it off overnight. Switch everything on again in the morning and it all works and hasn’t missed a beat since. I phone BT to tell them and they still insist it can’t have been in the router but, if it wasn’t, it’s one hell of a coincidence isn’t it?

The result of all this (apart from a huge amount of wasted time) is that I don’t see an email from Gianluigi with the preventivo (quotation) from Il Mobile, the company who will manufacture the windows and doors. That puts a 2 week delay in the process which could give us problems later.

Apart from that, we’ve arranged to pay the contractors and other suppliers - Luca the lawyer is doing that one our behalf - and exchanged loads of emails with Gianluigi on exact specifications. It’s not easy explaining how you want a room wired so I’ve drawn a diagram which I hope he understands.

We’ve also had to work out how we want the kitchen laid out (so the plumber and electrician can get on). The kitchen people we saw in Sarnano never got back to us despite several reminders. So we still have to sort all that out. We visit our local Ikea, in England, to have a look at what they have to offer. We really don’t want an Ikea kitchen because that’s what everybody does and out house has to have an edge over the competition. But, anyway, we should have a look. To be honest we find it rather disappointing and the quality doesn’t seem as high as we would have expected. We’ve also heard bad things about installation problems. We’ve been very decisive about most things but we really don’t know what we want in the kitchen. Should it be traditional or modern? Fully fitted or freestanding?

We arrange a visit for the middle of May to check on progress and sort out kitchens and, hopefully get some furniture too. Flights to Rome are hideously expensive at the moment so we book Stansted-Ancona and, since Stansted is a good 3 hours from home, arrange to stay in a Travelodge just off the M11.