Tyres

I took the duster to get new tires. It was about time. while they were fitting the tires I took a stroll around the small industrial estate. It was a sultry overcast afternoon, and the first tidings of the hayfever season were making themselves felt. I was taken by this house and its palm tree.

Small, so-called artisanal, companies, are one of the main stays of the Italian economy. On this little estate, there was a company making metal work for industrial uses, a company selling what looked like very sophisticated computer, numerically, controlled machine tools for the woodworking trades, a company making pasta, the tyre fitting outfit and huge timber yard processing wood from the forests of the Casentino. Further up the road there is a company making printing inks and a very specialist varnishing works where we had a piece of raw wood furniture expertly treated and varnished.

I bought expensive all season tires as in this part of Italy, snow tires are obligatory between November and April.