The Italian Job

These are just photos I like which don't really fit anywhere in the narrative.

Monday 10th June Up at 4.30 a.m.,showered, dressed and checked out of the hotel. Drove the short distance to the airport and dropped the car off at soon after leaving 6 a.m. the office did not open until 7 a.m. so we were not able to deal with the damage. Checked in for the London flight and hoped that the painting which was checked in as ‘outsize baggage’ will get to NY undamaged. Coffee and croissant for breakfast and boarded the plane for uneventful trip to London where it was raining. We arrived a little early and made the transfer to the connecting flight easily. MAC had SSSS on her boarding pass and was selected for a special inspection. Boarding was delayed a bit due to a leaky jetway which was deemed to be dangerous. Nevertheless, having been selected for the inspection we both managed to board way before our Group 5 colleagues. One interesting sight at LHR was a BA Boeing 747 painted in the old BOAC colors. A blast from the past. I had booked two seats in row 50 wh...

Sunday 9th June I woke up very early, around 5 .15 a.m. and went out to look at the party scene which had been largely cleared up. So I decided to try to clear up the rest of the area by folding the tablecloths, stacking the plastic chairs and generally tidying up the area from the broken balloon bits and other detritus. Stefania appeared in her night robe at about 6.30 a.m. and offered me a welcome cup of coffee. MAC got up soon after and helped with the remaining washing up. Stefania got a huge consignment of meat out from the fridge and started to prepare it for the party this afternoon. There was sausage, lamb and pork chops and the whole huge tray looked hard to lift!!  I took time out to fight with the very frustrating British Airways website to check in. I changed the seats and also logged the extra bags that we would check in but despite being offered a discount for paying on line, I was unable to do so. Still I did complete the check in procedure which may help at th...

Saturday 8th June We were up a bit later but still in the kitchen by 8.30 a,m. There was much to do. MAC was set to dead head the flowers in the garden and I worked with Stefania grating a mound of zucchini, slicing salami, prosciutto and cheese for the antipasto for the100 people coming this evening. We cleaned up around the place and did a few odd jobs as Stefania ran errands and continued preparing the food for both this evening and also for tomorrow’s party of 70. By mid day it had got very hot outside, probably in the upper 80’sF We had lunch with the left-overs from the baby octopus dinner we had cooked a day or so ago. Then a nap and then, at 2.30 p.m. back up to the kitchen where the staff had arrived and we cut up fruit for the dessert, melon and watermelon. Then we helped to set up the tables outside with tablecloths, plates, cutlery and floral table decorations. There were 18 tables set up on the grass outside and the whole things looked very attractive. T...

Friday 7th June We got up early to help Stefania to prepare the breakfast for the guests but we were too late, she had already done it. So we helped as much as we could. Then she dropped a bombshell that she was going to prepare dinner!! We had bought lots of food yesterday at Conad at Megalo. So we decided to make lunch instead and I started cleaning and cooking the baby octopus. Then we helped put out the tables for the 100 people who will come tomorrow for one of their number’s 1st birthday. party. The mind boggles for the person who would throw a party for 100 guests, for a child’s 1st birthday. The child will not, presumably take much part in the celebrations!! Organizing the 18 tables outside on the grass    with Stefania, Nardi and MAC all having their own suggestions was a hoot to listen to. Eventually a format was agreed and chairs set at the tables. Tomorrow afternoon the tables will have to be set ready for the guests to arrive around 5 p.m. After this is f...

Thursday 6th June Up slowly. Stefania had already left for Pescara. After breakfast we decided to go and report to Hertz Car Rental office, which we did at their office at Pescara airport. Before doing so we gave the car a quick wash at the Auto Washeteria at Megalo. Despite being told that after 28 days of rental we had to report our car at a Hertz office, the staff at the airport told us everything was OK and we should continue with the rental until it was completed on 9th June. So formalities being completed with the car, we proceeded on into Pescara where MAC wanted to find a bank to change her euro 50 notes into euro 100 notes which she had failed to do at the multiple banks and one post office where she had already tried to change the smaller notes into the larger denomination. It seems that few banks in Italy these days actually have a cashier, probably a feature of the cashless society. After trying a Deutsche Bank, she was told to go up the street to another bank where sh...