Tuesday, April 11, 2023

Letters from Italy

My poorliness and lack of energy has meant I am missing my holiday ration of ice creams. This must be put right and soon. 

I am feeling more human each day but my nights see a recurrence of coughing. Most annoying. I am a very bad patient. 

Mostly not stopping me from playing with children but by evening when I would be story-reading to them I am dry and anticipating a bad night. Oh phooey, enough of my moaning.

It is beautiful here in the foothills of the Alps. The weather is mostly sunny though ends of the day are chilly. The difference between Italians and us two foreigners is acute. While we wear shorts and t-shirts, admittedly with a woolly to hand, they are in long trousers, jumpers, hoodies, and boots. As Younger Son says, "This is summer to the Welsh. " And English of course.

Italian school children don't have an Easter holiday as such - they have two/three months off in the heat of summer - so the grandchildren are back in school today. I am taking the opportunity to lie in and write this. (Still no idea how to add photos. My tablet is Amazon and hates Google.)

Husband meanwhile spends his mornings digging the 'vegetable patch.' It slopes down the side of the hill and is filled with old tree roots. His afternoons are spent acquiring a tan. He can just lie in the sun for ages while I get bored and wriggly after five minutes.

Holiday reading so far:

Daisy Jones and the Six, interesting for the way it's written as a documentary, and also, is based on the story of Fleetwood Mac I believe. 4*

Counterfeit. Two old school friends get involved in the game designer handbag industry. 4*

A Very Private Eye. Barbara Pym's story told through her diaries and letters. More of a flick through sort of book otherwise it gets a bit repetitive. Not at all as I imagined she'd be. 3*

The Keeper of Stories. Lovely, wonderful holiday reading. 4.5*

A Most Unusual Demise. It seems to get a book published by this publisher it needs to be very inclusive. Not just inclusive but should contain as many variations of people as they are characters. And unnecessary sub-plot. That said once I got over the irritation not a bad yarn. 3*,

Current reading is The Man in the Queue by Josephine Tey. One of a vintage series with a very different style but rather entertaining. 

One does believe that our hero, Inspector Grant, would definitely disapprove of the Met police shenanigans today. Or the London CID as it was then.

Also peeking into 52 Ways to Walk. It's all in the gait y'know.

P.S. Thank goodness for the internet and kindle. Unusually for me I didn't load up with lots of real books thinking I wouldn't have that much reading time.


6 comments:

Ann said...

That's a perfect post for Easter. Waiting isn't my strong point either.

Ann said...

Not sure how I managed that but when I did my last comment it ended up here instead of your last post...lol
Being sick is never easy. I'm not a very good patient either. I tend to whine a whole lot.

Marie Smith said...

Glad you are able to have some time with the grandkids now around their schools schedule. Hope the cough disappear soon too!

Debra She Who Seeks said...

I'm glad you've got lots to read during your convalescence. The only Josephine Tey book I've ever read is "The Daughter of Time" about Richard III but I read it a few times over the years, it's so good!"

Boud said...

I love all of Tey, and I think I've read it all. Best after the Richard Eyeyeyeye one is The Franchise Affair.

I agree about the Pym auto. She isn't as interesting in person as I'd expected. I think I'd have found her a bit annoying.

I'm glad you're doing a bit better and will get up to date on the ice cream front soon.

PipeTobacco said...

I kind of love my Amazon tablet (a Fire) because it is so damn difficult to do work (read as any form of writing) because it gives me an excuse to NOT produce, but to only explore. Sometimes that IS frustrating, but overall it is rather helpful since I end up using it only to explore and read.

PipeTobacco