A study in contrasts

Where would you rather be!

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Dreaming of boats

One day we will get one of these...

A lovely day at the beach today. Just about to have a mexican dinner (!!) And then we ride home. It doesn't get any better.
Love
James
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TGIF

Sitting in a crowded commuter train (at least it's cheap and has great a.c.), I find myself in a weird timewarp. Twenty years ago I left my old employer - NatWest Bank - and set out for new horizons.

At the time, commuting into London (later living there), I said I wanted to leave the rat race, go be an academic, and never succumb to the life of a commuter drone (apologies to those who resemble that remark). However, you would have the last laugh if you were here today...

But wait! Now it is friday. After a week of grading exams, evading office politics, being editorial, working with reluctant grad students, and occassionally even writing something for myself, it is time to head to my favorite bar (see photo) and get a nice cold gin and tonic.

Tomorrow, we head south to Liguria once more, this time by moto. We are visiting our favorite spot - Camogli, and in particular, a little corner called San Frutuoso. This is an amazing little monastery in a small cove, with a little cafe by the shore. It is particularly cool, because you can only reach it by boat, or by a very tough hike. This keeps most of the ne'erdowells away. So.. adieu, farewell, and I will probably post next from the beach.

Ciao from the commuter train (By the way - it IS definitely worth it!)
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So how's the house going?

So a few of you have asked over the last few weeks/months, 'how's the house' - send some pictures! Well the house is going quite well. The first shot below, is more of a 'before'.

In fact, most of the house is actually still in a 'before' state. However, we have managed to make a few changes - mostly in the garden. Here is the view into the garden from the road.

Heather has done a lot of work on the flowers, herbs and window boxes. Here she is posing next to the tomatoes that she grew from seed this spring. In this picture you can also see the new mosquito screens that we have had installed on the windows and doors. A necessary addition in this part of the world. We also bought a 'mosquito magnet' which is a great device for attracting and trapping mosquitos - definitely recommended.

So, inside is another matter. Actually, the picture below is of the inside of one of the stalls. Eventually, we will fix this up and knock it through into the kitchen. It should make a nice dining room, with that domed brick ceiling. In the meanwhile, we allow the spiders to live there. They seem to like it...

The kitchen is taking shape though. Here is the wooden work bench that we have turned into a kitchen island. We got this from the antiques market at Casale Monferrato the first month we moved in. The market there is fantastic and always has cool things to be found, bought and put to new uses...

The wine rack became necessary after we started driving to Asti and surrounding area and buying wines by the case. Nizza Monferrato, Alba, Casale, and many other towns in the area have wonderful Cantine where you can sample and buy wine by the bottle or in larger quantities. Next step for us will be bottling our own!

Here is our fabulous new fridge from Smeg, alongside a 19th century cabinet, also from the market at Casale.

Here is Heather demonstrating the size of the 'grounds' by riding my new folding bike around the garden. Yes, its true. I am now commuting to work by bike/train/bike and loving it! I do get some strange looks, but that's not really anything new.

More later! ciao da Milano
James

Cherry Picking

You know how they use the term 'cherry picking' when you are doing
something easy - like competing against those less experienced - just
to win a trophy. Well, I am here to tell you, cherry picking is hard
work! We took about 5 kilos from our cherry tree - and lost probably
as much again due to mold (very wet year this year in Italy). Oh
well... this should be enough for some cherry pies...

Next up, apricots, peaches, pears, apples, figs, grapes, kiwi... anyone fancy lending a hand, just drop me a note!

Rio Maggiore

Lunch today at a nice corner in Rio Maggiore, the first (or last) of the five coastal towns in Liguria known collectively as Cinque Terre.

The cool thing about a day here is that you can buy a pass for 19 euro that gets you on the boat, train, and walking trails all day. Unfortunately for us, today the sea is too rough for the boats to pull into port. So we had to rely on the trains. As you can see from the picture, we are suffering through this setback...

Custom Moto Guzzis

I love Moto Guzzi. Not many people realize that this marque, born shortly after WW1 is the longest lived, continuously operating, motorcycle manufacturer in the world - behind only Harley Davidson in terms of longevity. These two have a lot in common, especially the fact that they both build only aircooled twins, with pushrod operated cams (at least until recently).

In fact, it is said that before their own revival, in the mid 1980s, HD visited MG to learn how to make their own v-twin handle properly (apparently they didn't acquire that particular secret).

Anyway, Guzzi's, like HD's are popular targets for customization. This particular bike (once an 850T I believe) has been 'improved' with a cruiser style seat, sporty exhaust, billet bar controls, and luxurious Hagon shocks. Quite an eyeful.

If anyone sees an original, unmolested 1970's era bike (750 sport) for sale, please advise. I promise not to do this to it...

Rainy afternoon in Cinque Terre

It does not want to stop raining here in Northern Italy. Still, we are spending the weekend in Cinque Terre. First stop, Levanto for beer and focacce for lunch.

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Bisybackson

The story of business in Italy. Any wonder why the economy is in the crapper?
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tales from the road

Hi, so here is a new blog where I will correspond from the field. That may be on a motorcycle trip, on a bicycle, or on vacation. As (one of) my (many) obsession(s) is bicycles and cycling, there will pro'lly be quite a lot of that... also motorcycles, also food... also... who knows. let's see shall we?!
love James