And when October goes, the snow begins to fly...

October 24th was, for a very long time, a difficult "anniversary" day for me.  It marked the day my father left, a day I can never forget. I would acknowledge it silently, briefly as the wave of inevitable melancholy would wash over me.  Not so much because I lost my father that day but because I lost my childhood.  I lost my entire family.  Nothing was ever the same again.

Now, however, that anniversary has been turned around, not only through the mere passage of time, but because a year ago, it was the day I came to live in Italy.  There was trepidation  mixed with excitement and absolutely no time to dwell on the events of more than fifty years ago.

I arrived by myself, to a house lacking heat and hot water, with very little in the way of "furniture"...tired, cold, dirty, hungry.

Here we are, one year later.  The heat is on, the hot water is wonderful, the toilet is now attached to the floor (!!), our furniture is here, there is a fridge full of locally grown vegetables and nothing processed, food with ingredients that are pronounceable and recognizable.  There is an oven that actually works.  The damage to the walls has been repaired so there are no unwanted drafts or visitors. The balcony is safe.  I can wash and dry the laundry.

In this year I have so far lost eighteen pounds, strengthened my legs and knees and still manage to have lots of wonderful meals and the occasional gelato.

We have already applied for our next Permit to Stay (Permesso di Soggiorno) so that worry is off the list.  Recently we found an above ground cantina (storage space) just a couple of doors away, so our back room can now be transformed from a closet into an actual room, a reading room/guest room of sorts.

This year, rather than a piece of toast and year old (but still remarkably good, thanks to it being semi frozen) wine...there will be prosecco and perhaps a hot casserole dish, a fresh salad and a piece of bread that is heaven with each bite.  There will be music playing under the chandelier in the living room.  Harry will be happily napping on his cushy couch.

This year, October 24th will be a celebration.

When you're a stranger, faces look ugly.....

I have two bills I need to have automatically debited from my account.  It is because I started out here with another bank and found out that it is not the best one for local banking....it was a bank that caters to international customers...and that is what we were as we bought our apartment while still living in the US.

It turns out that it is a VERY inconvenient bank.....and the nearest actual branch is an hour away...and we have several banks at our fingeI nertips right here in town.

SO, I finally switched to the Postale.  The Italian Post Office is also a bank...and a bill pay center....and a tax pay center...it is a very busy place.  But if you have an account with them, you can be assured that wherever you go in Italy, there will be a freaking Postale.

I closed the other and opened this.  Then, naturally, the bills were not getting paid automatically, so I waited for the email bills.  The gas came first and I went to the offices, which are nearby, and they cordially took the new information and I went on my way.  Only to find out that a mistake had been made and I had to go back because my bill was not paid....errrrrrrrrrrrrrr….AGAIN, with the same information...Voila!  It worked the second time.

The other utilities do not have offices nearby.  I have to have the account debited through the Postale.  There is one...small...problem.

The man in charge of "Customer Service'  is an asshole.  Hahahaha.  Yes. He is. He really is.

He apparently does not like "Stranieri" *foreigners.    There are lots of Brits here, some Germans, people from Denmark, Scotland, Norway....He does NOT like foreigners.

I have enough command of the language now to do this, to get this done.  He is...….remote.  Prego, Signora.....yeah,..sure.   So, I sit down, I have my form for the automatic debit, the form HE printed out to prove I have a Postale account, and my three ID cards that I have with me all the time.

"Where is your Codice Fiscale?"..That is like a Social Security number.  >>MY Codice Fiscale?  It's on my Permesso, it's on my SSN,....I HAVE an account here!

"I need your Codice Fiscale"...he "HAS" to make a copy of it...well, guess what?  To open my account he had a copy of it, and my passport, and my Permesso...it's all there,..somewhere...in the freaking computer...….My husband trekked back home to bring back my Codice.

My husband returned with my Codice and this ASSHOLE looked at him...like...what?  Do I want that?  AHHHHHHH....you ASKED for it...…..he went to get it...here it is.  No. No. I need documents.  I need your passport.  OH, hell , you don't ...I have a BANK ACCOUNT HERE!!!!


Oh...you know what?  The computer is down.   Gosh...sorry....I can't finish this...Where is the woman who speaks Italian? (He means my instructor)  "She is not available today.  But I speak enough to do this"......Oh, well....computer down....so sorry.

I went back today hoping the younger guy who is not foreigner phobic would be there but he was not.  I will poke my head in again tomorrow.

I love living here but even Paradise has its drawbacks now and then.  **Sigh***

Oh, baby, it's a wild world....

When I arrived the boiler had broken.  It was uncomfortable, but not dangerous.  However, to fix it properly, it really needed to be relocated inside the house, which meant also relocating the refrigerator.   Since the refrigerator was also on its' last legs, I had no problem with that.

But when the new fridge was delivered and the old one carted away, it was discovered that the refrigerator had been plugged in UNDER the sink...in an exposed outlet.....where it would have been possible for water to leak....or even just moisture ro accumulate.  It was very dangerous.

We had electricians fix the outlets below the sink so that they are now not entirely exposed, should there ever be a leak.  And now, nothing is actually plugged in there, either.  It is a ridiculous place to have an outlet.

After living here awhile, my husband kept saying the toilet moved.  Moved?  Yeah, as in rocked when he was on it.  Turns out it was not attached to the floor.  It was just....plunked there.  I shudder to think of what could have happened had it moved just a little too much one day.....a flood?  I don't know, but we had that taken care of as well.

In the cold of winter, even though I knew the inside of the oven was gross, we decided to try turning it on anyway.  The whole house blew.  Poof...darkness.   Once again the electrician came and told us the outlet and the plug were both ancient and worn.  It was …..dangerous.  We had a new outlet installed and bought a new oven.

Spring approached and we began walking farther....and noticed that the underside of our balcony in the back didn't look so good.  Pieces of cement were breaking away and falling.  Potentially, they could hit someone.  Eventually, the balcony would not be safe to walk on.  We very recently had that work done to reinforce the balcony and waterproof it, too.

We had an American chandelier and didn't know if it could be mounted here in Italy.  The guy who put in our oven said he would do it.  "But, is it safe?  Should the lamp be rewired?  Really, you don't have to do this....we will call an electrician."  "No, no....no problem....I used to own a lighting store."  Errrrrrrrrr.   He would not take "no" for an answer and proceeded to install the chandelier.

We had to get adapters for each bulb since Italian bulbs didn't fit the sockets.  However, he made it work.  Somehow.  And, in spite of our worry, it seemed to work alright.  Except three months later....poof....darkness.  Yeah, well.....not a really big surprise.

Soooooo, we found a nearly identical chandelier but Italy compatible.  We had an electrician put it in. No troubles, no problems....until the old one came down.  "Who did this?"   Ahhhhhhhh…...the entire thing was ready to fall out of the ceiling.  The "hook" it was hanging from inside the ceiling came right out.  Zip.  Wires helter skelter.  A total mess.

We now have the look alike up...bulbs that fit, the lamp isn't going to fall anytime soon, it is in there nice and solid now and running on compatible voltage. The thing is, even with an "Italian" lamp...the wiring inside was a shambles.

Five dangerous things....really dangerous things....so much for inspections.  I understand old appliances and damaged walls....but...FIVE dangerous things!  We are lucky to have discovered them before any calamity happened.