MAURO, LOCAL HERO

This is Mauro and it is a stealth shot. I was near the road taking pics of California poppies when he stopped by. He was looking up the road while chatting with Himself. His jacket is far brighter than the poppies so I thought they could wait, especially since he isn't caught often without his hair in a pony tail.

I call him the local hero because he is the one person in the neighbourhood who looks after the entire area, knows the history of everything and where it is. He drives a little Fiat with a read light on top and VALPAC printed on it. This stands for protection of the environment but I don't know the exact words.

He is the one who sees to it that boar hunters do not leave entrails around after they have gutted a wild pig, he is the one who reports fires to the fire department (we report any we see to him), he has rescued people during floods, and it is he who organises the local little festa at the end of May among many other things.

I have deleted, for the second time, the tittle-tattle about the local hero's romance with a local woman. It was all very Italian, the talk of the neighbourhood and very funny at times but perhaps it is not for me to tell the tale.

He was once one of the owners of our house along with his 96-year-old grandmother, his sister and his nephew. He has been a good friend since the day we bought it. He was going off to have a lunch of due carciofi fritti, two fried artichokes.

For the record: +18 C. Cloudy/hazy. Humidity 92%,