So I had the good sense or possibly because I hate the dark, I went into every room and opened the shutters to let the outside light in. It would be wrong for me to say that I slept soundly that night, but I didn't it was very cold, and every noise had me on edge. When I did eventually drop off it was to dream of earthquakes, shaking houses and ravenous wolves - lack of sleep does funny things to my subconscious 🤷♀️.
I was awakened to the glorious morning sunrise and the warmth of the rays as they lit up the rooms. I crept downstairs to get a glass of water - thankfully we had water in the taps, freshened up with cold water, dressed into winter garb I went for a fast run to get the my blood flowing and some warmth in my bones. When the remaining household awoke we set to work sorting out our electricity. A few phone calls later an electrician arrived. Nothing to do with our bill as it had been paid, but something to do with disconnecting and separating power lines. So once the lights lit we were in action. Electric fans were plugged in, phones were charged.
The kettle seemed to trip the system, apparently all houses in Italy have low wattage, so plugging in an Irish kettle to boil and running two fans would overload the system. We had one electric ring on the hob, the rest was gas, so we boiled water for tea in a saucepan. Yep I brought the Barry's tea bags with me. At this stage the local shop was open so we popped in for some breakfast supplies. Once our bellies were full, we were warm and copious amounts of tea and coffee drank we were ready for town.
Determined to sort out our heating, and the gas for the cooker. God bless Google, we had researched the nearest town to buy a bottle of gas. In our smartness we bought a regulator in Ireland, but it didn't fit. It was time to make use of our Italian. The supermarket in the next town over, supplied gas bottles but to get a regulator we need to go to a hardware shop - Negozio di ferramenta. In Italy shops open from 9am until 12.30 and close until 4.30pm in the afternoon.
Power nap time for us, it was well needed. I had forgotten how far our house was from where we park the car. 50 steps uphill climb all the way, but the views are worth it.
After a full on day, of driving, speaking in another language, shopping and sorting out the central heating our adventure had well and truly kicked off and after such a dismal start the only way was up!.
Part three coming soon......
