Il Scalpellino

I went down to R, the mason, who made us some new uprights (stippiti) for a stone window frame . He was working outside double-jacketted  and masked up, stone dust flying.

He learnt the trade from a local family who have been in the masonry business for a thousand years, give or take. All the old local quarries have shut down and this mason uses stone from Ascoli Piceno. It's a tough life at the best of times but after years of recession and youth unemployment at 33% it must be really hard.

The Boss is away for a week and I took it into my head to go and live in the fridge for a few days.  More ivy bashing and searching for buried pipes.

Brilliant stars tonight but the house is cold with only wood fires and stoves to take it from a standing start. . Blipping from under the duvet with cracked hands. Fire churring away and the Coleridge biography waiting.