Junefinnigan's Weblog

Benvenuto to all my New and Loyal followers

Small sweet grapes from our lower terrace.
Photo P Finnigan

As you all know, September is grape harvest time here in Tuscany and its called the Vendemmia.  So, September through to October things get busy here, old rattling tractors and trailers trundle past our little villa, shaking the foundations and generally making one hell of a racket.  You thought it would be quiet and restful here didn’t you?  Well in some respects it is, but when the Vendemmia gets going, the only thing one can do is to open a bottle of last years harvest and drink it.  It depends on the grape as to exactly when they are picked and is also somewhat influenced by the weather.  A few valleys away, our good friend the celebrity musician Sting has invited people to pay him to help harvest his grapes!  Now there’s a clever thing.  Use your celebrity status to get the vineyards full of workers, pocket some cash and drink the proceeds.  I wonder if anyone would like to pay me to do my garden and clean the villa?  Any offers?  It was when I splashed some vino on a blouse and my man said,  “Just be careful, I may have to hand wash that!” I realised that we really should get a domestic again.  We had a good one around three years ago, but her visa ran out and she had to go back to Romania…..

Back at our favourite coffee bar/alimentary in Fiano, Laura and Benedetta have returned from their two-week holiday, so we are no longer out on a limb, trying to make executive decisions as to where to go for coffee.  Last Sunday morning, things were busy there, everyone in their weekend outfits, one man drinking dry martini in his espresso, another delivering an old Singer sewing machine next door and one with a dog, which ran around hoovering up all the crumbs dropped by certain Italians speaking with their mouths full.    We popped into C’era Una Volta in Luccardo for lunch, where Gianluca was in good form telling us the story about the local butcher who supplements his delivery income, by helping out the postman.  Thinking back, the TV personality Postman Pat did this, but in reverse.  Taking chickens and groceries from one postal customer to another;  I’m sure you’ll remember that!  A chap came in with a really nice scruffy dog and he was welcomed with a bowl of water and the dog had one too.  Now we are very happy to have well-behaved dogs in restaurants, however, we are aware that a lot of people don’t agree with this.  I say, if you do not want to be in a restaurant with dogs, for whatever reason, you should check with the restaurant first, as to whether they accept dogs.   If yes, go somewhere else.  What’s your view?

By Monday my poor man was feeling ill.  “I’m so tired, I can hardly stay awake and my neck hurts.” He groaned.  So we popped in to see Flavio our dottore and he checked him over.  Heart normal, pulse and pressure normal, not sleeping well, had stopped drinking wine again, was possibly stressed as next week he was back to London for a few days, on the other hand, he might have got a virus.  So some adjustment of pills, a natural herbal solution to help him sleep and me going into the spare bed for three nights to give him space.  He did not take the sleeping remedy, however, he did sleep a lot better without my snoring and tossing and turning.  Thank god he is now better and he took me out on a date last night, for dinner!  I have also crept back into our double bed.

Farty Barty pretending not to be after the cheese.
Photo J Finnigan

Last Tuesday night we had a horrendous storm.  When this happens you can guarantee that the pump bringing the gas into the villa will stop.  We need the gas for hot water, so the following morning it’s hand pumping time until the boiler starts again!  Only in Italy…..  Last night, Saturday, we finally had a lovely calm evening in the garden.  No wind, a beautiful moonscape, the sound of crickets chirping merrily away and toads chattering down in the valley below us.  It was so nice, we did not want to go in, so it was a quick cheese and tomato on toast on laps. Farty Barty came to join us, having smelt the cheese of course.

Silvio Berlusconi’s facebook picture.

Oh, must not forget the our friend Silvio; I wonder what he’s been up to, I’ll go and check.  O no, no news anywhere.  Is he still on holiday?   Mmm maybe by his own swimming pool, as I don’t think he has his passport back yet.  I’ve even checked his Facebook page and no updates since 13 August!  Golly, what are we to do, the Italian newspapers are pretty boring without him.  But never mind, here is his Facebook photo for you all to drool over, well maybe……

I am very much on a deadline to finish the first draft of ‘The Bolivian Connection’ by the end of September, so its juggling company commitments with writing.  My heroine, Joanna, has just had a glorious romp with Dominic and is about to execute a very cunning and dangerous plan……. My plan is to be published in plenty of time for Christmas, so make sure you read ‘My Father, The Assassin’ first as the current novel follows on from there.

Well, enough of that.  Time to do other things, which is a shame, because I love writing to you all and even better I love to hear from you.  So do drop me a line and don’t forget to visit my author page at http://www.amazon.com/junefinnigan/author.

Have a really good week, June x

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