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Il Cantinone B&B Marche ItalyMeet us at the Cantinone in Cupramontana Italy
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March 07 The Summer 2007 updateQuite a few months have passed since the last update, sorry to everyone who has looked in for an update and red-face for me.
I'll put in a brief update for our second summer of running the Bed and Breakfast. We continue to enjoy our visitors, and are especially pleased and grateful for our guests who come back to see us a second time. We welcome all our guests, some arrive as strangers and leave as friends, others arrive as friends and leave us sad when they go again.
We have a seen a very good mix of folk, some holidaymakers exploring Le Marche for the first time, some house-owners on their check up visits to their building site, some business people travelling in this area, and some friends or family of locals who don't have enough space for everyone! We had a lovely week with guests of Danny and Sasha, here in Cupramontana for their wedding and it was a joyous occasion for all of us, and for our town as well.
Our down-side through 2007 has been problems which arose from our new off-street parking area. We incurred the wrath of the local comune (Council) by starting works without getting full permissions. We did have permissions, just not the right ones. So the work has been stopped, and the legal wrangle is still going on. It's the part of living in Italy which is the down-side. It is so easy to fall foul of the rules and regulations, and although I hate to say it, I do feel we are penalised because we are foreigners.
At the end of summer, in September we headed off to France to follow the All Blacks around to all their pool games, plus their quarter final match in Cardiff. We had booked the tickets a couple of years previously (while still working in London in fact) but even so, we must have had some idea that the ABs were not going to get past France if they met in the semi-finals, because thats what happened. We were only consoled by the fact that Australia went out the next day.
After the World Cup had passed the interesting stage (we were out) it was back to life as usual. In October, the Cupramontana Sagra D'Uva (Wine fair) was a continuing success although it rained heavily on the Saturday night. Then there was a spell of job-hunting while Jane was in London filling out job applications, Ian was holding the fort at the Cantinone and greeting the few intrepid travellers to Le Marche in mid-winter. The weather had been mild all through November and early December, but a snow-fall two weeks before Christmas left the Cantinone with a white coat on and looking very pictuesque. It was all gone by Christmas Day unfortunately.
Together again for the Christmas and New Year celebrations, spending a lovely Christmas at Toma dn Jacqueline's place, and we held a party on the 31st December. Niece Michelle was staying and it's always lovely to have here come to see us, and we had a real good chance to sit, relax and plan out Michelle's big celebrations coming in February - her wedding to Gary in Martinborough (in NZ). Such an exciting time.
After leaving Ian with most of the mess after the New Year's Eve party, Michelle and I headed back to Stanstead, me to London, and Michelle back to Dublin.
More news about 2008 and how it is progressing so far, to follow....
June 15 Start of Summer MadnessI can't believe almost 3 months have passed since I last wrote! We have become busy in the B&B, almost solid bookings from now until September when we go to France as rugby groupies. Before then of course we have been basking in the glory which was Team New Zealand beating Italy in the Vuitton Cup and now await the Americas Cup proper starting next Friday. Our flags, caps and t-shirts are ready for the races! We are both now yet another year older and the time is going faster than ever. We managed a week away down in Puglia in the south of Italy for the week of our birthdays - it was a nice little break, and May is a quiet month for us between the two Bank Holidays. Would you believe it - we didn't have a single booking for the week we chose to go away, and we booked the holiday up last September? Weird or what. We felt that we had finally achieved one of our goals, since we are living in this beautiful country, we really want to be able to go and see some of it. We keep promising ourselves we will do more exploring of Italy,,, but where's the time? We wonder where the time has gone, as it is just a couple of weeks to being half-way through the year already. There has never been a truer saying than 'Time flies when you are having fun'. Life is busy for us, as well as the breakfasts and cleaning (that's most of our mornings gone) there's the shopping and cooking (that's one out of three afternoons gone), an afternoon doing 'business' things at the post office, accountant or lawyer, and a day on the computer doing the accounts and emails, and somewhere in the middle of all that, the pool and spa have to be cleaned every day, and the DIY: Ian is tiling and grouting the small courtyard off the apartment, and we are stripping and restoring the big wooden doors at the front of the house. Phew! We are having a bit of a saga over our new parking area, We started it in May but a neighbour (who I suspect had wanted a bit of a back hander to begin with) then complained that we had put the drive on his land, and not on our own land. So the police and the council had to become involved, the work had to be stopped and now the neighbour is suing us! Everybody is on our side, and says we are in the right and the man is an imbecile, but it is worrying none-the-less. Our nephew Richie is doing quite well, is possibly coming back up to Wellington next month, but his living arrangements still have to be sorted out. He had a trial weekend up in Wellington in May which went well, but exhausted him as could be expected. He's a little bit down at the moment, as he is on forced bed-rest on his stomach because of pressure sores - a real danger and hassle when you are sitting or lying down all the time. Back to the grindstone.... JfS March 30 The Cantinone At La Dolce Vita LondonIn March, we were invited to contribute to the Paradise Possible stand at "La Dolce Vita" in London. This is an exhibition of all things Italian; design, travel, tourism, property, and living in Italy held at Olympia just down the road in fact from our old house in Hammersmith! Paradise Possible introduced us to Le Marche, and made the finding and purchase of our house 'possible'. The principals of the company, Guiliano and Grazia have remained good friends to us, and now we know the other people who make up the Paradise Possible team. The offer was to come along on one of the days of the exhibition, and tell the story of the Cantinone and our own personal story, how we came to choose Italy, and Le Marche in particular, what our experiences were in dealing with Paradise Possible, and then a bit about restoring the house and opening our business here... it was a lot to fit into a 20 minute presentation especially they way I like to 'go on about it'. It was nerve-wracking but a lot of fun. The PP team who came along to listen said I was relaxed, and spoke quite informally, quite intimately, which was what I was aiming for... like speaking to people in our own front room. The audience was small thank goodness, but once I got into the flow, then more people stopped to listen around the edges, so a small crowd had built up by the time I finished. Pictures of the event, and me presenting are in the Album 'The Cantinone at La Dolce Vita'. JfS March 20 The New Landy's ArrivedWe've bought a Discovery. She's a 1999 Series 2 with a TD5 engine. Ian preferred another 300TDi but that would have been a few years older. This Landy is So much more comfortable than the Defender, I am quite looking forward to September in France in her. I can't
quite believe that we have had a new (used) car for two weeks now, and we
haven't photographed it before today. Photos are in Album "The New Landrover Discovery"
It has been positively spring-like over the past week or two, and there was a
temptation to start planting trees, but lethargy has saved the day (and the
plants). This cold snap would have put them in danger, if recently planted out.
So the lemons remain in winter storage in the gym, making the exercise
equipment difficult to use (so a win-win situation there). Today winter returned with a few
snow flurries, and temperatures dropping to around 5degC. So there is a
chance to catch up on correspondence, bills and letters which have been
waiting to be written and update the blog. ok - finish and get the pictures loaded... JfS
March 07 Our Christmas and New Year In New ZealandI don't know now just who I have caught up with about our last three (quite horrendous) months... but here's a potted history of our time in New Zealand for most of December 2006 and January 2007. Left Cupramontana November 27th and drove to London in the Landrover Defender to sell it, which eventually, we did. Flew via Tokyo to New Zealand, arriving December 9th. That afternoon, we had lovely family gathering at Leigh's, my sister, seeing all the family. Later that night Richard (Leigh's son) was out to a 21st party. To cut a long story short, he had a very bad accident, fell down some stairs at the house and broke his neck. He is paralysed from the neck down, a tetraplegic. Needless to say, from that moment on our 'holiday' took on a completely different meaning... we were in support mode for Leigh and the family, and not a holiday as such. We were kept busy with helping Leigh, and also our Dad get more support and assistance with things like cleaning at his house. He wants to stay in his own home as long as possible, and at 92 he needs more care in the house now. There was a lovely respite in the Wairarapa for New Years' with Robin and Russell, Carol and Bruce, but as Leigh and her hubby Horst couldn't join in, it wasn't quite the lovely trip we had all planned either. We also had a trip to the South Island, going to Christchurch to see Richard in Birwood hospital. While we were down in Christchurch, we also got news that Lottie (our kitten) had been run over. We are so glad to be back in Cupramontana - it was a very emotional and really quite horrendous time in New Zealand and I know it sounds selfish, but I just couldn't wait to get back 'home' to Italy. It was really too long to be away. I feel quite ashamed to feel like that, since Leigh just can't get away from it all.... I can (and just couldn't wait) to get back to my life here in Italy. It made me realise how lucky we are to be in the health we have, and to be in a lovely part of the world. However, the highlights of the trip were made for us by our friends who did ensure we had some very enjoyable times out when we could just escape for a few hours. In Wellington we had lovely meals and chats with Kate and Paul, Heather and Callum, up north meeting after long absences, Carol and Bruce, John and Adrienne, Richard, Raewyn and Sid who all looked after a couple of shattered souls. When we went to Christchurch we stayed with our friends Brian and Pam who were absolutely wonderful. They looked after us so well, and made us so welcome and comfortable... just let us get on with visiting Richard and seeing a little of Christchurch when we could... they are such good people. In fact every one of our friends were supportive and made the trip better for us. Richie is now making small improvements, he has been fitted with a special glove into which a toothbrush or fork is placed, and they are teaching him to use that. He will be paralysed forever, but has some upper arm movement, no grip, but has wrist flex. He will learn to use voice activated computers, but will need 24 hour care forever. Thank goodness for ACC (Accident Compensation Commission). On the way back we had a couple of days in San Francisco, when we went down to the Monterey coast and Carmel, which was a nice respite, and then a couple of days in London after which we returned to a very sad little grave in the garden, done by our friends who were staying here to look after her while we were away... silly, but we were very fond of Lottie. Then my desktop PC blew up and had to have new power supply and harddrive installed... then Dad cut his leg and had to go into hospital for a week, we both got colds, and then I got food poisoning lasting over a weekend! Last week I was in London, for a change of tenants at the Beauclerc Road flat, and the new tenants wanted the place unfurnished, so I had to put everything into storage, then the boiler failed, and I had to have a new one fitted, all in a couple of days! I think that's all our bad luck for 2007. Can only look up from here, eh? Hasn't been good for Ian's blood pressure, and he is having constant monitoring, with the doctor changing his medicines every time he goes. I really need everything to settle down to a quiet life for him, and all this is doing neither of us any good. That's out of my system now, and time to move on. The past three months have taught us to count our blessings, and in doing that we count our friends and our family twice. JfS February 26 New updates to the Cantinone WebsiteIt has take a while to get my a*** into gear, and has been prompted by a visit to La Dolce Vita in London the weekend after next.I'm going to be in London this weekend (27th Feb to 4th March) for the changeover of tenants at Beauclerc, and then back to London again 9th to 12th March. The Cantinone's history site, currently it is still hosted on www.fscl.net has been updated, just a little, to include more information about our search and buying the property. So now there is a link directly from the Cantinone's site www.cantinone.co.uk across to the history pages, go check it out and look for the crane picture at the bottom of the home page. Also there is a link directly to this blog, so every time you visit our home page, you can read any news and updates from us here in Italy. And a new link to Paradise Possible as well. JfS February 22 A year has passedLooks like a year has passed since I first created this blog. Just an indication of how busy our lives have been here in Italy. And this month is just as busy. We've been back from a mega-trip to Japan, New Zealand and the States for 3 weeks, time spent mostly preparing the Cantinone for her new influx of visitors for the summer season. Although I say 'summer season' it has already started. We are still in the midst of winter and we have already had our first guests. Our friends Jacqueline and Tom were in Italy with their friends Gordon and Julie, and they all stayed with us for a couple of nights before they headed up to Venice to take in the Venice Carnivale. That's something we must do one year. Our holiday home to New Zealand was a very emotional one, and I'll write about it in a new blog. I'll try to be more up-to-date with this blog so I can start sending it out to friends and family, but I hope once you've read it you'll send messages back too. JfS March 30 It's all new to me!Having just discovered msn Blog site and created the space for the Cantinone, I'll post some info about our move from London to Cupramontana and the very first guests at the Cantinone.
Come back in the next few days for the update. I am in London this week, and will have more time to post a blog next week back in Cupramontana.
JFS London
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