UNHINGED

It's not only this door that is unhinged today. The server was down again this morning and is still on a go-slow and the post office is trying to drive me crazy.

I could have done the door, only, for an art shot but this whole pic shows that the little barn is built right up against a stone wall that holds up the road and that there is precious little space on the other side. The ground drops right away into a ravine. I was not feeling much like a mountain goat this morning. This is why the picture is taken from the road above.

This barn belongs to, guess who, the troublesome priest. He may only own part of it. This priest owns a little bit of everything around here. He even owns an arm's width of a stone wall of ours which we had to rebuild as it was falling down. He would not sell his bit for less than the price of a new car, nor would he contribute to the repair costs.

There is a house beyond this barn, also owned by the priest. He allowed his nephew, Massimo, who could be part owner, to do up the house so it could be let to summer tourists. It's a popular house even though it has but one very small shower room for up to eight people. It has four bedrooms, the rent is 500 euros per week, which works out to less than nine euros per day per person. Not bad.

Today, the regular man at the post office is on holiday and a very officious pill is filling in. I have six parcels ready to go off to bonnie Scotland. The regular man would have sent them through. This guy? No, forms must be filled in in triplicate. Sender, recipient, contents, weight. The parcels are all back in the dining room with blank forms to fill in.

This afternoon, I must make a visit to a friend in hospital.

All in all, it is not a fantastic day but at least it isn't raining. It's cold though. There is snow in the mountains. Apuan Alps foothills This also shows how trees topple over when they can't take any more rain.