where art collides philosoperontap

Sat out on the room’s private terrace this morning rather than heading up to the main hotel area. Vesuvius barely visible through the morning haze. Have ordered a pot of tea for the room.

It is time we headed north for the British spring that will no doubt be emerging, the land wakening, rubbing its eyes after a long winter and stretching out. Spring is the best time to be at home. Looks like it will be raining when we get back to Lincoln. That’s the UK for you. Sorrento will be sunny.

The sea here is dead calm and it is a little early for any boats. I tell a lie. Just noticed a passenger jobbie rounding the headland from the direction of Naples. Our destination this morning is Naples airport. Car picking us up at nine fifteen. Flight is at twelve forty. We should be there in plenty of time. Chill out a bit in the lounge. We are in seats 6A and 6C. Comfortable enough.

Decided last night that if we had to be stranded somewhere this hotel would be one of our top pics. Only 12 bedrooms so I guess we would get to know all the guests. Makes me think of the Agatha Christie novel/movie Evil Under The Sun. Hopefully no murders here. The only downside under those circumstances would be the lack of a kitchen so they don’t provide evening meals. I guess they would have to improvise if everyone was stranded. Mind you we would probably have to sell the house to pay for it. Pah, pish, piffle. Whatever that means.

The hotel’s interior design has given me much inspiration for what I might do with the shed. Nothing specific I can put my finger on but just general ideas.

The Amalfi coast, I can tell you, lives up to its billing. V picturesque. If you are coming here I wouldn’t bother hiring a car. Driving is nightmarish. People ride scooters but even that is a bit dodgy if you ask me. The right way to do it is by sea, nipping in to different ports and beaches whenever you feel like it. All the interesting bits of Positano, for example, are down near the beach and I daresay the same is true for other places on the coast. It is all about marvelling at the architecture from a good viewpoint. Think ahead where you might want to get dropped off for lunch. A long lunch.

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Talking about food we are now on the terrace for breakfast. The car doesn’t come for an hour and twenty minutes and we are pretty much all packed so there is absolutely no rush. Hey baby, what’s the hurry, relax and don’t you worry. I am wearing my heavy flannel shirt over my Miller’s T’Ale tee shirt from the Isle of Man as there is a slight early morning edge to it but not enough to stop us wanting to sit out and enjoy the alfresco dining.

Church bells going crazy. Maybe it’s the fire brigade or similar. It’s certainly warming up. Vesuvius starting to appear through the haze.

I can see two fishing boats – one small one about 100 yds off the cliff and a slightly bigger one maybe 400yds out. The bigger one has just given up and is heading back in. Looks like the smaller one is using a hand thrown net.

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Sat in the lounge at Naples Airport. It’s not much cop tbh. No beer that I can see and no spirits. Mind you it is just after 11am so not really an issue. If I was here at 5 or 6pm for an 8 o’clock flight that might be a different thing. They do have plonk. The lounge is pretty full and we ain’t sat anywhere particularly nice. In fact there is nowhere particularly nice to sit and not much natural light. Quite a contrast with the Gatwick lounge where they have a cocktail bar and the club lounge at LHR where you help yerself to the gin. None of these are at the same level as the Concorde Lounge but that is a special case and tbh we may well not get in there again. 

Bought a couple of bots of tanqueray at 21 euros each and a bottle of Tears of Christ or simlar red wine that the driver mentioned as we drove past Vesuvius. Grown on its slopes apaz. Before that I set off the alarm when going through the scanner. Mostly do these days. I quite like telling the staff it’s my hips.

Oh and the flight is delayed.

Bit of a dilemma with the 6 nations this weekend. If Ireland beat Scotland and England beat France then Ireland come top. However it is extremely unlikely that England will beat France and I need them to lose and for Wales to beat Italy with a bonus point for Wales to level with England at the bottom of the table. Even then England will almost certainly have a better points difference unless France wallop them by a hundred which would be very entertaining but unlikely.

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Dance me to the end of love. I’m on the gin and tonics on BA535 having finally taken off. Feeling mellow and listening to Pink Martini. Two gins in. We have a car picking us up at LHR T3. Gonna go for the beef and ale stew for lunch though we are at the back of business class (row 6) so hopefully they will have some left. Otherwise it is chicken salad or mascarpone and ricotta spinach lasagne. I’ve had enough Italian food for the moment. A good ole British curry would go down well when we get home. Or a sausage sandwich etc.

The dawn chorus happens in Campania just like at home. I got out of bed to look at the lights on Sorrento but they had mostly gone and the silhouettes of the Lattari mountains were already emerging as features against the lightening Neopolitan sky. At this time the remaining town lights looked more industrial than a twinkling romantic backdrop.

This is our last full day in Italy and the plan is to catch the bus to Positano. There is a stop outside the hotel but the manager told us the bus was usually full by then so we are walking into town to board at the station. You can’t buy tickets on board the bus. These have to be purchased at a “tabac”. We tried this yesterday with no success but were directed to one nearer the bus station which was a little further on in the wrong direction so we parked it for the next day.

At six o’clock in the morning sorrento is already getting noisy. Some sort of machinery has just started up. Can’t see what it is but imagine a road sweeper making its way towards you getting louder by the minute. Or some sort of powered saw. Reminds me of the man sanding the decking of his outside restaurant furniture. We passed him on Monday and he was still at it the next day. Getting ready for the busy season ahead. Lots of noises coming now from the harbour. Beeping sounds of a reversing truck. A scaffold being dropped. A man’s voice calls out, the Italian for woah. Twice.

A pastel pink vapour trail reveals itself against the pale blue sky. Don’t think it really came from a plane. A long streaky cloud more like. Certainly going in the wrong direction for the airport. Feels as if a coffee would be appropriate but that would involve waking up THG which would not be right, I’d quite like to pop up to the terrace. In fact I have.

From here I can see an emerging Vesuvius. The furniture is still too dewy to sit on so I’m on an oversized plastic blue chair just inside the doorway. It’s more of ` sculpture than a chair. This hotel is a design marvel. It is like living in an art gallery. Wonderful. Unfortunately the next time we come, in May, we are downgrading to the Hilton as it is the venue of the conference I am organising.. Don’t get me wrong. The Sorrento Hilton is a nice hotel but it isn’t La Minervetta.

Sounds emerge from the kitchen. The rattle of ice. Crockery. The night porter has just delivered me a steaming mug of hot, black coffee, totally unasked. This is what we call service. He also turned over the cushions on an outside armchair so that I can move out onto the terrace. God I’m going to miss this hotel. We still have one more night.

Just noticed an aircraft flying in the same direction as the vapour trails but much higher. Perhaps they were vapour trails. Just ones that have sunk lower with time. Makes a lorra sense to me. Out here everything is now in colour. Except Vesuvius which has kept its sinister dark tone, almost ethereal through the morning haze.

Lively music has appeared. Jolly stuff in keeping with a bright breakfast mood. Abba. Dancing Queen. Not too intrusive. There is nobody else around. Just me, the band and the night porter who has gone back to the kitchen. The food here, they only do breakfast, is stunning. Just picture the absolute best of everything. Makes you realise that the breakfast juices served up at the Rome hotel were just out of a carton which I probably already knew.

My Merlin bird app didn’t recognise any of the birds. It had a stab at a robin but there were others. Perhaps they were too far away. It’s too lake now, what with Abba and a car repeatedly beeping its horn. It’s only six thirty eight for goodness sake. Abba have moved on “Gimme gimme gimme a man after midnight”. Must be the night porter’s fave band 🙂 Not me love. I’d be fast asleep by midnight. No use to you whatsoever.

After lunchtime today we are booking our entertainments for Hay on Wye. We joined at some lowly membership level that allows us access to tickets before the great unwashed if you can use that description for the trendy Guardian reading middle class punter that attends the festival. I don’t have a problem with it meself. I’m not really that interested in most of the talks. It’s all about people trying to flog their book. Lots of politics, morals and philosophy.I particularly have no interest in the fiction. How can anyone be interested in someone describing in great detail how they came up with the characters of the main people in their book. Also people ask some really wanky questions designed more to demonstrate their deep knowledge of the subject under discussion than to increase the body of human knowledge.

I do have my eye on a poetry session and a master class in barbecue cooking that includes eating two courses of assorted proteins that you’ve seen cooked in front of you. Fifty five quid but it is dinner and ninety minutes of entertainment. Hopefully there will be beer involved. Seems right with a barbecue.

The terrace is warming up now that the sun is actually visible. THG is awake but has not yet responded to my offer of a pot of tea. There is no rush.

Back on the terrace with a beer and some free crisps. The beer was not free and easily covers the cost of the crisps. It’s cooled down a little so I’m wearing one of my heavy flannel shirts that almost serves as a coat, or certainly a fleece. Had a nice bus day out with THG. We actually made the bus at Sorrento train stayshun with only a minute to spare. There were only a few seats left and the back seat was the only place we could sit two of us together. That suited our rebellious schoolkid natures. 

The ride to Positano was a roller coaster which I enjoyed and was far cheaper than paying to go into a theme park. Really I’ver commented on the trip in video format on Facebook so don’t feel like repeating myself in writing. Sufficed to say you don’t need more than a couple of hours to “do” Positano.

Back in Sorrento I bought three lemons for three euros. It was the right thing to do. The lemons here are whoppers. The area is famous for them. Limoncello and all that. I don’t mind a bit of Limoncello on occasion but it is usually only something you get as a freebie at the end of an Italian meal, or sometimes a curry. Don’t think I’m going to bother buying any. Might well get some duty free gin though. 

The suitcase is laden down with olive oil, vinegar, cheeses, sun dried tomatoes and coffee. Some of the coffees are available in Waitrose but none of the rest. Gotta take advantage of being here. I am mostly already packed. On our recent trip to Spain I added 10kg to the weight of the suitcase by packing simlar local produce and also some brandy. Won’t be buying Italian brandy (grappa) in the duty free. I’m thinking we might plan an olive oil and vinegar tasting session at ours sometime soon. One of the vinegars was 50 years old. Might have been 40. Can’t quite remember from the perspective of the terrace and a bottle of Giulia craft beer – Italian Pale Ale.

For our last night we are off to a restaurant very near by called Taverna Sorrentina. It styles itself as a cocktail bar/gastro pub/taverna. Looks fine. Don’t think it is quite as posh as it likes to make out but tbh we are after simple fare after a week or more on the dining out trail. I might push the boat out on the plonk seeing as it is our last night. Otherwiser it could well be a simple pizza or a burger. I realise pizzas are a classic Italian dish but they don’t do them spicy enough for me. I like a bit of zing in my pizza. Chillies with spicy meats. Lots of spicy meats. They are a bit more circumspect here.

Vesuvius across the bay has maintained its somnambulent  state. Dormant. An evil monster biding its time. Its reawakening will be global news. The sound of children playing on the beach rises up from the port. It isn’t much of a beach. Not one that will attract sunbathers in my mind.

Now playing some Pink Martini on the Bang & Olufsen bluetooth speaker in the room. Just another reflection of the serious quality of this hotel. Amado Mio. This was playing in the cafe in Positano. Just fits the area. Love me forever, and let forever begin tonight.

The mountains this evening are not silhouettes. You can see their stratification in detail. Many houses built into the hills. Great views but not particularly accessible.

Now playing Una Notte in Napoli. What’s not to like?

Incredible view across the Bay of Naples from the panoramic windows of our extremely large room  at La Minervetta. Dawn was particularly lovely and even now, an hour or so later, the mists still linger in the silhouetted valleys of the town. A fisherman stands at the back of his small boat a couple of hundred yards offshore and another sits with his rod, dangling his legs over the side of the jetty. It is looking like a hot day in prospect and I regret not bringing my shorts. Our bedroom is a stunner. The owner of this hotel is an interior designer and this hotel really showcases his skills.

A lone cloud at the top of Mount Vesuvius makes it looks as if a gentle volcanic eruption is taking place. A show put on for the tourists no doubt. Clever lot the Italians. A passenger boat sets off in the direction of Capri. The hotel manager suggested we leave that visit until our next trip as much of the Island is closed at this time of year.

Our thinking is to check out Sorrento today and Positano tomorrow. There is a bus that gets you there in 25 mins, if you catch the right one. Otherwise it takes twice as long. No rush I guess.

The green fishing boat with a blue topped white cabin at the front has just returned to the quayside to pick up its net. We saw them unloading the net yesterday but didn’t spot anything that looked like a catch. Maybe they unloaded it elsewhere. One thing that did interest us last night at dinner was the discovery that they catch tuna and swordfish in these waters. I had a mixed seafood grill that included those meats. Fish and chips Sorrento style. THG had salmon in a vodka sauce. There were no greens on offer. You have to get used to the different menus here. Yesterday we went on the hunt for a sandwich but again there was none to be found.

Agonisingly beautiful morning on the terrace at the top of the hotel. Breakfast was amazing. V high quality everything. I rate hotels by a number of KPIs and breakfast represents a high percentage of the points. I haven’t experienced a better hotel breakfast than this.

There are only two negatives. One is that it is three hundred steps down to the marina below. That in itself is not a negative. It’s the fact that it is three hundred steps back up. Last night we forked out for a taxi. The meter said 18.50. I gave him 20. He said it was 25 due to some add on. I didn’t argue. Just remember the 300 steps. The other negative is that whilst my droid can access tinterweb using the hotel wifi my macbook and THG’s iPhone cannot (except I could get on the BBC website for a while but now I can’t!). I have to swing by recepzione and talk to their techie over the phone apaz, which I will do.

The plume above Vesuvius has grown. Nowt we can do about this. The airport is just below and the roads get gridlocked at the best of times. The population of Naples and its surrounding area will at some stage in the future be doing another Pompeii. Up Pompeii.

The Capri ferry has returned. I was going to say empty but I have no idea really. I would have said that just for effect. But I didn’t.

The other thing that not everyone is happy with is the fact that there is no kettle in the room. They like to deliver the tea. This is a cross you just have to bear. It’s called service levels. Service levels do come at a price but that is the same in any game. Want five nines reliability with 15 minute time to fix? In yer dreams.

We are shortly off to discover the delights of Sorrento at a leisurely pace. It must be at least 17 degrees. Gotta take it easy.

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Things remembered or noticed this morning. I was in a bar in Rome and went to the loo. The gents was occupied so I tried the ladies. That too was engaged. I waited and eventually a girl (woman) came out of the gents. The temerity of it!

Amerigo Vespucci set off on his big trip from Sorrento apaz. According to yesterday’s driver. We had a nice Merc to bring us here from Napoli Centrale. This morning I saw a small girl with pink specs get out of her pushchair and ask her mum to take some photos. She adopted some classic model poses before getting back in the buggy.

Bought a couple bots of vinegar and an olive oil from a specialist shop called Salumiere or similar. I asked if they had any of last year’s harvest but was told it wasn’t ready yet. I believed the guy in the shop more than Gemini which said now was a good time to buy. Settled for their best drop as pointed out by the gaffer. Also bought a nice white vinegar. Find it difficult to get much in way of choice in Lincoln. Also the same balsamico the man in the shop used himself.

When it got to paying he asked if I could do cash. Cash is king. He wasn’t offering much of a discount. Couple of bucks. The cheese seller in the market in Rome knocked a fiver off for cash without me even asking. Not many tourists in that market unlike today’s shop which was tourist central. Almost as if they had just got off a cruise.

As we walked down the main drag a few things grabbed my attention. First  a truck picking up cardboard. Every shop had left a pile of cardboard packaging outside. Monday is obviously recycling day. Then a currency shop quoting identical exchange rates for  GB pounds, Scottish pounds and Northern Irish pounds. Parity at last!

Then there was the legal cannabis store.

We walked past an Irish bar advertising that it was showing the Liverpool game tonight so that’s this evening’s entertainment sorted. Won’t want much in the way of eats as we can fill up on the amazing buffet of hors d’oeuvres, or whatever they call them in Itly, in the hotel. Really high quality nosh fair play. 

And then finally, unless I can think of something else, we  passed a statue of John Paul 2, or San Giovanni Paolo II as he is known around ere. Took me a second or three to click that’s who he was. Thought I recognised him. The San bit = lots of politics going on I’m sure. We popped into three or four churches on the way. Really noticeable how much more elaborate Italian/Catholic churches are compared with those back home. Ole Henry VIII has a lot to answer for.

Bags are packed and we are pretty much ready to move on to our next port of call Sorrento. 10:25 Frecciarossa to Napoli where a driver is picking us up to take us to La Minervetta, our bijou home from home for the next three nights. Not worth messing about with local trains from Napoli and then a 1km hike with bags at the other end. One of my fave songs is Pink Martini’s version of Una Notta in Napoli but don’t think we will see much of the city. Certainly not this trip. Rome has been full on but Sorrento should be a little quieter with just the two of us. 

I am quite satisfied with the weekend’s sporting results and we are already looking forward to the imps’ next game which is away at Exeter tomorrow night. Another long trip for the faithful. I wonder if it will be shown in a bar in Sorrento. Lincoln are top of division 3 after all 🙂 If they have chromecast I could share it from my phone. I’m that kind of guy. I’m sure the locals will be interested.

“Oo Lincoln, si that would be bene. We can’t get enough of British third division action in Sorrento but they keep showing AC Milan and Napoli.” Well they should complain if they feel that strongly about it. I would. That’s what social media is for.

…

Seamless transition from hotel to train. Good facilities at Roma Termini but all we did was occupy a table in a caff for 15 mins or so before heading down to the platform. The business class coach on the Frecciarossa is v comfortable fair play. Tis said that they bring food and drink offerings as was the way in the Rome of old but I can’t see us wanting any nosh. 

A whistle has just signalled the off. No different to the platform at Lincoln Central I’m sure. Lincoln is not as grand a station as Termini despite its clear association with Rome. Our ruins are not quite as grand. What would Julius Caesar have thought when setting off on his six week or more journey to Albion, or Brittania depending on your timing. Not a good time to be alive although I daresay they made the most of what they had. Grapes are grapes innit.

It is supposed to be blazing sunshine in Sorrento and I am optimistic we might have a clear view of Vesuvius from our hotel room. When I was there last summer you could barely see it due to the smog. It might have been a good spot to watch the eruption as long as I was sure it was safe. Gemini suggests not. Not even Capri would be safe. If yer in Naples you are toast. Burnt toast and don’t even think about marmalade.

Meanwhile we are racing through the Abruzzan countryside having gorged ourselves on an espresso and two biscotti. Cloudy ere mind you.

Great day out yesterday fair play. After a relatively relaxing morning buying cheese, olive oil and vinegar we assembled in the hotel bar before returning to our fave restaurant in Roma La Locanda di Pietro for a leisurely lunch for eight people with Jezzer and Clare joining us towards the end. This was a rugby day out, fuelled by the usual free flow of beer, but the highlight of lunch was Lincoln City beating Cardiff City away to go two points clear at the top. Wowsers.

We taxied to Stadio Olimpico where we saw Scotland beating France and then the highlight of the day, a historic win for the Azzuri against an England side who seem to be in free fall. The row of Italian kids sat in front of us went crazy.

It wasn’t a full ground but I’ve seen it a lot emptier. Italian rugby is on the up, Wales resurgent and we can really look forward to the last weekend of the 6 nations where Wales, if they beat Italy with a bonus point, could get level with England on points at the bottom of the table.

We left the others at the restaurant at around eleven thirty and we’re home just before midnight. The others were still at it, just, at ten to one.

A quieter day in prospect. We are thinking open top bus tour.

Today, because it is the sabbath and our hotel lies in the shadow of the Vatican, I propose to have a shave. The last time we were here we were, together with tens of thousand of others assembled in st peter’s square, blessed by the Pope. Don’t think were going to bother this time even though he is a new guy. That one has already been ticked off the list and I’m not collecting popes.

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Breakfasted and now sat in the lobby contemplating our trip so far. Our hotel is near the Vatican. I think we would opt for somewhere nearer the tourist action although this place is walkable to the hotspots. My feet are a bit sore from walking. No two couples in our party are in the same hotel although some have ended up near to each other purely by coincidence. The Roman traffic is classic. Just like you see in the movies. Sometimes chaotic and yesterday, at a standstill for reasons we could not see.

You sense that Rome lives off tourism. Everything else feels incidental. Advanced booking is essential and a guided tour makes big sense as even those with tickets have long queues to negotiate but the tours have shortcuts.

Not every Roman follows rugby. Some of the taxi drivers we spoke with didn’t even know there was a game on, let alone one with such a historic result. On trips like this I have to listen to a video before posting as the later on in the evening the less coherent I get yet the more likely to post things on the spur of the moment because it felt like a good idea at the time.

We are not in a particular rush this morning though you do have to balance relaxation versus the fact that we have come all this way and we might as well make the most of it.

Well, it’s been an action packed time in Rome so far. Combining a bit of business with pleasure. Walked off me feet Thursday afternoon. Wouldn’t have been so bad were it not for the fact that my best walking shoes/boots were still soaking wet from last weekend’s festival gear shifting. The farm was so wet the water came over the top of the boots. I resorted to my Timberland chukkas but haven’t worn em in years and they therefore weren’t as comfortable as they might be. First world problemos.

So after the ungodly 5am start on Thursday we arrived at Fiumicino fifteen minutes early. Being a citizen of the world, or at least the EU, I was through passport control in what seemed like seconds but it took THG 30 minutes. I elected to wait for her with the bags at a caff conveniently located at the exit to the baggage collection area.

30 min or so taxi ride, might have been a bit longer, and we arrived at our hotel well before noon to the news that they had upgraded us to a suite. Our bed is on the mezzanine level with sitting area and bathroom downstairs. All good except when you want to nip to the loo in the night! Not complaining.

We went for a stroll and a couple of beers that afternoon and settled for a quiet meal at a gaff near the hotel called La Locanda Di St Pietro or similar. Was great fair play..

Then yesterday we met some pals for a guided tour of the Colosseum and the Forum. V impressivo and the fact that we were part of a tour meant a shortcut past the queues on entry. Walked along the route used by Roman Legionaries when coming to Rome on triumphs. V evocative it was.

A long lunch was followed by a nap and then out to watch Ireland v Wales at some gaff found by Jezzer the previous day. Home before midnight which is v late for us. Match day today with the imps on at lunchtime and the mighty Azzuri v the Inglesi this evening. 

Ciao bebes.

Off to the dirty ground of London town this morning. Feels as if I haven’t been there  in a while, not counting the trip to Seville in January.  Meeting in Shoreditch this pm, din dins at dishoom tonight then nipping to Bat erseah tomorrow morning to see a display of Egyptian bling. Then meeting THG at the cross of kings before heading to LHR T5.

Weroff to see the rugby in Rome, plus a bit of business fwiw. I’m the only non England supporter in the party. Ordinarily I’d say the result was not in doubt but I’m quite looking forward to this game. Could go either way. Won’t go so far as to wear an Italy jersey, particularly as I haven’t got one, but should be an enjoyable evening.

The biggest negative is that the flight is at 06:50am. I don’t normally go for such flights but it was the only one offering reward seats. What’s more we are in economy! With hindsight I should have just gone ahead and paid for business class in the first place at a more reasonable time of day. As it is they want eight hundred quid for an economy ticket now. Norrapnin. The flights are all full of hopeful England supporters making the pilgrimage to the holy city.

Because of the early start we are staying at the Sofitel in T5. We quite like this hotel. Afternoon tea in the lounge followed by snacks and drinks and then an early night. The only problem is that because of the early check in we won’t have time for breakfast in the hotel. I’m going to ask them if they can do us a bit of a packup – couple of croissants etc but as a backup have tried to order something from BA for delivery. Sausage sandwich. I dunno if you have ever tried ordering anything from BA for onboard delivery but it is totally useless. They only do it for certain flights and it never seems to be the one I am on. However they don’t tell you which flights. On this occasion I added two sausage baps to the basket and they offered me a meal deal that included the bap, a carton of pringles crisps and a beer. At 06:50. Ok if I was on rugby tour I guess.

I did click on the person icon on the screen thinking it might be a chat bot (not that that would have been much use) but it turned out to be an accessibility thing. Ba seem to be very big on this. Crap on website user interfaces though.

Anyway, got to finish packing n stuff. This trip is going to be all about layers. It’s ten degrees or so warmer in Itly but we are going to be in the UK as well and the evenings might be a little cool. Taking my swimming trunks as well just in case. The hotel near the Vatican has a rooftop hot tub and the one in Sorrento a pool looking out at Vesuvius. I’m somewhat sceptical as to whether we will use that pool and may not even have time for the hot tub in Rome. A bewildering amount of things to see in the Italian capital.

Ciao bambinos.

…

Great dinner in Dishoom, V noisy but I guess it added to the atmosphere. Finished quite early so back in the hotel bar for a beer and to watch the liverpool v wolves game at eight fifteen. Nil nil at half time and now in bed.

Pinch and a punch. St David’s Day. 1st March. 2026. Dave couldn’t possibly have imagined what the world would be like in the year twenty twenty six. Sometimes I find it difficult myself and I am there. Difficult isn’t the word. Hard to believe maybe. Something else he could not have forecast was how many boys would be named after him. I’m a Davies and that would originally have been derived from an ancestor named after St David. Do we think there are many folk around today with that impact? Any?

Yesterday we buried the Beyond The Woods festival. Most of the infrastructure was hired but we did have a lot of site decoration and quirky stuff like bar furniture that we had mostly constructed ourselves that was consigned to the bonfire. We did keep a load of good stuff that might be useful. Scaffold planks for making the compost bin, a bench, trellis. Things like that. There were also a lot of poles or canes that are going to be v useful for growing runner beans etc. Not yer bamboo canes. Solid wood jobs like Monty Don uses. I’ve been thinking about how to source these for yonks and hadn’t realised we already had them. Hey, we have them now.

I really need to thank everyone who had ever been involved with the festival and especially Tom, Joe, Lucy, Adie, Simon and Jo who were a big help these last two days in dismantling it all. We got somewhat wet on the Friday but got lucky on Saturday when the heavy rain made way for some nicer weather just in time for the lighting of the bonfire. We really moved on from the festival, a casualty of the weather and covid, some years ago but Joefest/Beyond The Woods has finally been put to rest. May it rest in peace.

This being St David’s Day we are having a leg of lamb for lunch with leeks and other solidly Weld accompaniments such as roast potatoes, carrots and broccoli. Well the Welsh do eat those vegetables even though I personally am not a big fan of the latter. There is also some Eryri Black Bomber cheese which is the dogs b0!!0c$. I realise the brand is actually Snowdonia not Eryri but I’m sure they must mean to change it. Surely.

I’ve also set the fire. It’s nice to have a fire going every now and again. Won’t light it yet. It’s a bit early. I was up at five thirty. This is what happens when you go to bed at nine o’clock, the result of being physically cream crackered after yesterday’s day of exercise together with a few celebratory sherberts in the Vic early doors. They had a new barrel of Timothy Taylor’s Landlord on but it didn’t taste right and I suspect it was still a little green. Should have left it another day. Moved on to Neck Oil instead.

Gotta go. A leg of lamb to get out of the fridge and a pot of tea to make for THG.

…

Somewhat disappointing Sunday Service this morning. Being St David’s Day it came from Cardiff and indeed they made a good start with the choice of hymn: Guide me o thou great redeemer. Unfortunately the quality of the recording was v poor. Dunno if it was down to the acoustics in the church or what but in any case even THG agreed with me and we switched it off. I did try it on the BBC Sounds app but that was just as bad. Ah well, a lost opportunity.

Heavy rain lashing at the window all night. Woke up a couple of times and lay there listening. Then up at six thirty as is usually the case when it’s my turn to make the tea. However today I was dressed and at it by six forty five and out of the house five minutes later taking our Tom to the stayshun. He came up with Joe and Lucy in their car yesterday but had commitments in London today.

Relentless rain yesterday an all. Spend the whole day at the farm shifting stuff which is why the London crowd were up. We’ve been storing miscellaneous bits from the Beyond The Woods festival. Old sofas, signs, lots of stuff from around the festival site. We stopped putting the event on years ago, a combination of cancellation due to a storm that blew through resulting in the cancellation of most outdoor events that weekend including  Boardmasters and then two years on the trot due to covid. After that the team had moved on and had busy jobs with no time to spare to run a festival. Takes many person months to get up and running and we had a core team of maybe fifteen or more volunteers with many more during the festival itself. The heavy rain is set to continue this morning so we will have to see how we get on. We have a load of crappy wood to burn.

On Thursday I discovered the resting place of my 2g grandparents Ben and Mary Davies: Amor Baptist Chapel, Llanfynydd. I’m in correspondence with a distant cousin I’ve not yet met but who I came across on Ancestry and he mentioned the place and that he was planning to visit. I am going with him in May. Then when going through some old bits of research I found a note re the chapel I’d scribbled when I was doing this stuff almost twenty years ago. Totes forgot about it. Next I found the will of his father, Ben Davies that I had also forgotten about. It’s quite nice finding these things as they have the handwriting of your relatives although on occasion this is an X, her mark. I have examples where I’m pretty sure both parents could read and write but their daughter couldn’t. Marriage registers usually. In one case Margaret Evans nee Davies was the daughter of a Baptist minister so not surprising that she could write. She married a farmer and had nine children and again not, perhaps, a surprise that her daughter Mary couldn’t.

The other interesting observation is that in the official documents they were Benjamin Davies but their signatures said Ben Davies. Natural really but nice to feel that touch of “reality” if that is the right word. Humanity perhaps?

One nice thing about working in the rain yesterday was that I stayed perfectly dry. It might not have been particularly nice working in the rain but having the right gear makes a huge difference. My boots had trodden through a lot of mud and water but kept it all out. Ditto my old Lonap raincoat. The Tilley hat keeps the rain off yer specs. It’s the one I wore on the coast to coast walk where the first two days were driving rain.

So Tom is now on his way back to London and I’m sat in the snug. Didn’t seem much point in going back to bed when I could be catching up on my diary. Had no time yesterday and was somewhat fatigued when we got home. Not used to all this physical work. In fact I wouldn’t have been able to do it during the last three years or so. The new hips are pretty miraculous. I couldn’t even remember what it was like to walk pain free and not I notice it all the time. The contrast. Wow.

Today the plan is to shovel sh!t. Horse manure to be specific. THG has identified a source (name of dobbin) and roped me in for some shovelling. I am of course, in my lowly position as the occasional undergardener, happy to help. In preparation for said shovelling it is necessary to nip to Wicks to purchase some bags of a strength suitable for the “job”. This I will this morning do whilst THG is occupied with the Pink Ladies running club, an esteemed body of fitness enthusiasts who get put through their paces every Tuesday.