Sat 16 Apr - Cats, Kittens & A Bit of a Party

Hoorah! Our plans are back on track! 

Aided somewhat by a far more realistic, and fair, quote from Max and his father.  And a promise to start at the end of May.  That's more like it.  We were both very happy indeed.  We like Max.  He's done a lot of work locally, has come up with some good ideas, suggestions and valid points.  And he wants to put solar panels in.

Barely containing our excitement, we said we'd let him know on Monday.  After we'd told Fabio, thanks, but no thanks.  Not looking forward to that one, nor his bill for the work done so far.

But we still had work to do ourselves.  Determined to have the guest room finished by the end of the weekend, I cracked on with my painting and managed to finish it all but the glossing of the two doors.  Tomorrow.  

KP continued clearing his ex-tin barn and completed a very neat wood pile, neatly displacing our dwindling rat family.  Their numbers are now on a fast decline, assisted by constant upheaval of their living quarters and a few well placed arsenic laced treats.

The only thing that put a bit of a damper on our day was the absence of cat.  Normally very vocal in the mornings our day began with an ominous and sad silence.  And it had been raining.  Poor cat.  Pushed out into the rain last night and forced to have her kittens in some cold, wet hovel somewhere.  KP's guitar case under our bed would have been far nicer.  We both felt bad and very sad.  What if cat's not well?  What if the birth was a difficult one and she needs our help?  We both searched high and low for her, trying to ease our consciences by telling ourselves we'd done the right thing, she's a feral cat used to fending for herself (even though she's not much more of a kitten herself), and how unfair it would be to domesticate her (or her kittens).  It didn't work.  We still felt bad.

Then she appeared half way through the day!  Screaming as usual on our doorstep.  Hoorah! She's OK, we're not cat killers after all.  From the way she was wrapping herself in and out of our legs, arching her back and purring loudly, our dastardly deed was clearly forgiven.

She was absolutely ravenous, her tummy was definitely relieved of it's load and her nervousness whilst eating, anxious to get back to wherever she had come from, told us her kittens were ok too.  Maybe they'll turn up with her on our doorstep one day soon.

We had promised ourselves a night off tonight and try out a locally eatery, all in the name of research of course, but by the time we downed tools we were pooped.  Trying out the take out pizza place in Roccamonte suddenly became far more appealing than falling asleep in our pasta in a restaurant. 

But our hearts sunk when we saw the takeaway pizza place was closed. 8pm on a Saturday night?!  This is a very strange country.  But, hungry with no food in the house, we were in a bit of a spot.

A quick enquiry sent us a kilometre down the road to a scruffy tiny little tucked away bar.  They might do you a takeaway there, so we were told. 

 Not a chance!  We were ushered into a huge restaurant at the back, complete with dance floor and a singing DJ.  A table was laid for us and menus and a carafe of wine were brought out.  We had clearly gatecrashed a very lively party.  No, no, we were told, it's Saturday night!  This is normal.

And it was great. We had a lot of fun just watching the oldies waltzing around the dance floor and all the children having a right old hoolie.  Everyone was happy, all ages together.  What a huge shame we can't just pick our families up and whisk them all out here too.  This is the way to spend Saturday night.

So much for our quiet night in with a takeaway.