#76: Springtime in Italy
Ciao Nonni,
A thousand apologies for the delay in this edition of the dispatch! I hope you can forgive me, or at least let me try to atone for my sins through the delivery of a nice long update.
What have we been up to? Honestly, there's not a single cause for our general busy-ness. Just life, I guess? We're all well. We've officially survived the winter, and are very happy to welcome spring to Lucca - pollen and all! I've been sneezing like crazy the last few days, so for sure the warmer weather is on the way.
The most welcome occurrence around this time of year is the shift into and out of daylight savings in both the northern and southern hemispheres, respectively.
Through winter, there is a 10 hour time difference between Australia and Italy. This is felt most acutely by David, who wakes up at ungodly hours in the cold and dark in order to get a good couple of hours of overlap with the Australian workday.
This Sunday just gone, Italy officially commenced daylight savings, bringing the time difference back to nine hours. Next weekend, Australia will end their daylight savings - further reducing the difference to eight hours.
Heaven, comparatively!
This weekend we took a spontaneous trip on the train to Viareggio. It was fantastic. We woke up to sunshine and beautiful weather, and no fixed plans. So we packed a bag with some snacks and a towel to sit on, and rode our bikes to the station.
We each have a child seat on the back of our cruiser bikes, so Leo rode with me and Raffy hitched a ride with David. We took the bikes on the train, and then rode from the station to the beach once we'd arrived at the beachside town.
The total journey time from our front door to having our feet in the sand on the beach is 40 minutes. With no need to worry about finding a carpark or having to walk ages with complaining children.
Viareggio in the height of summer is a bit ... overrun. And the water is often horrible. But in springtime, it is amazing. The beach clubs have yet to set up for the season, so the entire stretch of coastline is freely accessible.
The water is cool enough to keep the Italians well away from it, but not so cold as to deter the crazy Australians from having a grand time splashing around, and running away from the small waves as they break on the shore.
The kids had a ball. The elderly Italians taking a walk in the sun (in puffer jackets and scarves) openly shook their heads at us. Bah humbug!
At lunchtime we bought big square slices of Roman style pizza from the famous pizzeria on the foreshore, and ate them while sitting on our beach towels on the sand. We were joined by some friends, and it was just one of those lovely days that remind you to always make the effort to do things, instead of sitting around at home.
Speaking of not sitting around at home, David has been enjoying exploring more of our part of Tuscany on his bike since the weather has improved. I always look forward to his return home, because he inevitably has a fantastic story to tell about Italian countryside life. The other day he excitedly recounted to me how he rode down a small single lane road into a tiny little town. There was a sharp corner around the town's only bar, and as he rounded it he almost collided directly with two horses.
The animals were tied up to a pole out the front of the bar, as the owners had gone inside for un caffè. Probably corretto. He took a photo, and it's perfect.
Meanwhile, my runs have been similarly entertaining as I explore new areas around Lucca. One of my favourite routes takes me up towards the mountains on the south of town, and there is a section of the path that runs alongside a private property. The owner is building himself a new shed, and creating a terraced garden. This involves some fairly serious DIY earthworks.
Every time I run by, he is working away in the sunshine. Often shovelling, or using his small digger to excavate the retaining walls. As he does this, he sings. Magnificently bad arias and operettas. None of which I have been able to identify, but they are spectacular nonetheless. He is progressing at a glacial pace, but he seems to be having the time of his life.
I wave and shout "buongiorno!" as I go past now, and he always returns this with a big grin on his face. I'm sure he thinks similar things about me and my plodding pace that never seems to improve.
As a general update on the never ending challenge of Italian bureaucracy - I still haven't managed to successfully transfer the water bill. Still!
I followed up again with the dreaded water authority (GEAL) last week. They apparently have an issue with some of the cadastral data I provided in my last attempt, but they didn't feel the need to communicate that issue back to me. Instead waiting for me to inquire as to the status of the transfer. Honestly, this might be the one that breaks me... Stay tuned.
This weekend we are very excited about a visit from the famous Cameron Carter. He's popping over from a conference in Dublin for a couple of nights, and once again I am having a lot of fun coming up with a mini itinerary of Lucca's best experiences.
All my love,
Kate
