Junefinnigan's Weblog

Benvenuti to all my lovely Loyal and New Followers

Well, it is Saturday morning and my man and I are off early for coffee.  We drive over newly laid strada bianca, white road, which is actually a mixture of various stones, gravel and mud and a local pheasant (no pheasant, not peasant) dashes clumsily across in front of us.  I always find them funny to watch and I say so to my man.  “Ha, you would look funny too if you were running with your arms tied to your sides!” The man of wisdom replies.  So this set the tone for the drive down to Certaldo, but the sun was shining and we were looking forward to getting a lot done in our still new garden later on.

Grilled asparagus with parmesan cheese, from recipe book.

As many of you know, Saturday morning is fruit and veg market day in Certaldo, but by the time we got there it had started raining.  So after coffee it was a case of dashing, well I don’t exactly dash, from one canvas awning to another to buy lovely asparagus, cheeses and Sicilian blood-red oranges.  Our plant lady was pleased to see me and I bought some colourful flowering plants for some of the still empty garden pots.  No, I have no idea what they are called, except some were geraniums, the others well, I’ll take some pictures next time and some of you clever plant people will no doubt tell me!

I Bersagliere arrive in Certaldo.
Photo J Finnigan

Then Sunday morning turned out much better weather wise.  Arriving in Certaldo, parking was hopeless, so my man dropped me off in Piazza Boccaccio and took the car to some remote place and walked back.  I secured our favourite table at the back of Bar Il Solferino and hogged the newspapers.  Finally, he arrived and flopped into his usual chair with his favourite pastry.  “Il Bersagliere are on the march, they were just leaving the station when I parked!”  He announced in between mouthfuls.  Now we had read about this the day before, so as soon as I heard the sound of brass instruments, I whizzed outside to take pictures.

Hunk of the Month, Band Leader I Bersagliere.
Photo J Finnigan

Gosh, it was very impressive to see men jogging in uniform with black feathers flopping up and down on their hats and playing their instruments at the same time! These guys are famous for being a troup of Italian Army cyclists formed in 1915, and the name translates to ‘Marksmen.’ They covered horrendous mountain roads either riding or carrying their bikes during both world wars.  Well, they came to a halt outside the church and town hall.  So I took some pictures and was drawn to the band leader who stood posing in the front inviting people to photograph him.  Only in Italy would you find a military man, well band leader, with hair down to his shoulders wearing designer sunglasses and not to mention a very sexy grin.  Oops, my man may read this so I had better stop there.  Anyway, I’m sure most of you girlies will appreciate his picture and a few of you guys too!

Silvio Berlusconi.
Il Nazione Sportivo.

What else?  Ah yes, Silvio has been busy over the last couple of weeks.  Saying that he will not sell his shares in A C Milan football club to anyone who isn’t Italian, so that threw out the interest from the Far East.  He is also being likened to Donald Trump, or is that the other way round?  The New York Times has recently quoted ‘Both he and Mr. Trump were non-politicians who capitalized on their ability to attract extensive press coverage of their outsize personalities and business success (Mr. Trump through his celebrity, Mr. Berlusconi through his media empire).’  If I may say, the journalist has overlooked Silvio’s celebrity status, his media empire comes second to his own popularity in Italy.

Well, enough of that, I must get this blog off to you as it is already running late.  Do drop me a line and send your email address to june.finnigan@virgin.net if you are in Tuscany on 25th June and would like an invite to my Rock Concert.

Have a great week.

Salute June x

PS do visit my author page at http://www.amazon.com/author/junefinnigan

‘My Father, The Assassin’. Book one in the series.

‘The Bolivian Connection’ Book two in the series.