Today is now

The last few dated entries come from my diary. Computers weren't a normal feature in Tuscan farms, so I often found myself writing in my diary instead. I wanted to publish them to have a more complete picture of my time in Italy, and to share them with my traveling companions - who will definitely enjoy reminiscing about our time there.

22/11/2010 Stations

D-day, departure day. I'm sitting at Pontassieve station smiling about so many good memories here in Italy. The work - main reason why we came - seems to fade into the distance as I remember nights out, endless bottles of wine and cans of beer. Seems strange that this day has finally arrived. It feels weird being on my own already. Clara and Rob are still at Casa Cares, unlucky that for once, the weather's good today. I miss them already. Funny how we ended up traveling with Rob for a whole month, and consequently, have become very close. Last night will be hard to forget, we drank in our room and had facemasks on - Rob obviously getting sucked into yet another regrettable offending of his masculinity. We played ring of fire and the name game, and I was delighted to finally guess one, Mel B, while the others went through various rounds.
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Asked for a coffee in Terontola station, found a fly in it. Couldn't finish my coffee.
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Just had to pay 25€ to get to the airpoirt from Perugia train station. It doesn't seem to be well connected, despite the airport's motto being "Yes, we work". Probably reassuring travelers that it is indeed an operating departure point and not an abandoned warehouse still in construction.
My flight seems to be the only one today.

19/11/2010 Reggello

Another day off, Paul said we could "take off tomorrow", and for a moment we thought we were being chucked out. We went to Reggello to leave the house for once. Apparently Reggello is the Città del olio, the city of oil - but there really wasn't much in terms of specialised shops. I was hoping for cute stalls selling regional produce. I guess the town's reputation is due to the sheer quantity of olive trees in the area - LOADS. We saw some, neatly organised on terraces, stretching for miles on end - almost looked like an Inca pyramid.
On the way back the fog began to settle and we tried not to get runover by the fast cards, especially on the bends. Everyone went to a pizzeria to avoid the daily soup, but Clara and me were agreed that sitting in a restaurant with the Americans was the last thing we wanted to be doing. A good choice, they were talking about Volvos for most of the meal apparently. We just stayed in our room having a chat - my favourite moments of the trip. She listens to my stupid paranoias and always knows what to say - fountain of wisdom she is.
Everyone arrived at our room, thinking we would party here - even Raymond's dad turned up... We took the "party" elsewhere - to the basement, and proceeded to play ring of fire with nine people and copious amounts of booze. Everyone was pretty drunk afterwards. I pushed Ethan outside and he collapsed backwards, and then walked into the room with his hand covered in blood. Rob was pretty wasted, having had to down the middle drink - he went so pale whilst doing it. And Raymond was upset, running outside like an emo, smoking by the terrace banister. I think I took it a little too far by constantly repeating: "Dear diary, you're my best friend".
I can't believe I've only got one weekend left in Italy. It's been so much fun. Traveling with Rob has been great despite the money thing - he really makes me laugh. And it's funny that we haven't known him for that long but we've grown so close to him - and funny we met in vendanges.

15/11/2010 Reggello

Not in the best state to write, it's proving rather difficult actually. We're waiting for the bus to Reggello at St. Ellero. We've been on the same spot for nearly 3 hours. Clara left her handbag on the train we've just managed to recover it, but the camera is missing - with all the pictures. It's maybe worse than losing your wallet. We're all feeling pretty worse for wear.

12/11/2010

It was raining this morning, to our great joy -and to Roberto's chagrin. The harvest seems to be a bit poor this year. We walked to Montespertoli; apparently the wine capital of Tuscany - you really wouldn't have guessed. There was hardly anyone in sight, shops were shut and I really couldn't see all that many wineries - not like in Montalcino. We just missed the 'vino novello' festival (7-8 Nov), and the 'olio nuovo' festival is this weekend, but it's hard to imagine the town (if it can be called that) at all lively.
We went straight to the first cafe we saw. It was a pasticceria (and a good one at that, according to Roberto). We sat on some stools and had a couple of lattes, and were treated to home-made pannetone and chocolate crêpes. "Test please", said the only acceptable-looking Italian I've seen yet. Pannetone is not really one of my faves, but this one was fresh and juicy. We stayed for quite a while, getting stuffed. Looked at the postcards but none of them were that nice. Bought some more pressies in the bakery and walked back. The sky was quite clear and it'd stopped raining, so we knew there was work waiting for us. We started at 3. It wasn't that bad, there was barely enough time to do much. Only thing is i didn't have time to change into my wellies and put my foot in a puddle as soon as we started.
We're staying tomorrow Saturday in the end. Rob's feeling better and the work keeps getting interrupted, so it's not so bad at all. Plus, we've found that if we cook, we eat well, and I sure do enjoy it. Roberto is pretty insufferable - extremely stubborn and speaks to us as he would to a retarded 4 year-old. Clara says I get too worked up about it, it's true, but he does drive me nuts. He tried teaching me how to make tortilla the other night... I mean, come on. And he has the tendency to say "Claro!", when we ask really not-so-obvious questions. He also wanted to teach me how to eat my piece of pizza, but I refused to follow his advice. It doesn't need more olive oil for fuck's sakes.

11/11/2010 Certaldo

Woke up in the middle of the night with Roberto coming into our room, crying in outrage that Rob shouldn't be there. He asked why his room wasn't good enough and why he hadn't been told about Rob's move. He added there would be problems with the police were they to find him sleeping on the floor... The real reason is that Roberto can't allow boys and girls sleeping in the same room if they're not married. Needs to get out into the city as Rob said today.
The work today was ok - I kept thinking/telling myself I was there by choice, and that worked pretty well. The biscuits also helped, and my music. We don't knoe whether to leave Saturday or Sunday - we reckon they work here on Saturdays...
We're a sad bunch. Rob's been ill with a mixture of asthma, cold and diarrhoea - he's stayed at home for 2 days, sleeping. Clara got a branch in her eye and it was crying all night, and she couldn't open it this morning. I would be panicking and going crazy - she kept her cool.
The cat jumped on my lap at this point and I lost all concentration.

10/11/2010 Certaldo

I think I've worked out how to deal with the work - I tend to think "I don't have to be here, this is voluntary, and it's shit, so I want to leave" - but if I stay positive and think that in a couple of months I'll be at home missing the whole experience, then the work gets a lot easier to endure. It's pretty logical really, but hours on end of olive-picking can get you thinking, well, not clearly. It rained a bit in the morning today, so Roberto decided to show us around. This place is amazing, there is a wool workshop (and a shop selling its products: socks, hats, scarves...), a herb-packing workshop, milk workshop (also making cheese, yogurt, etc), bread (we saw Paula putting several loaves in the massive ovens). They also bottle juice and tomato puree, make their own pasta... they have jersey cows and milking cows (and a bull), and goats (and Billy - the male goat, with a very long beard). He also showed us the frantoio (mill) - so apparently the oil is produced when the olives are crushed continously and an enzyme is released.
I just cracked up laughing remembering a moment in the fields today. Rob was feeling very poorly and was sent to bed - I said I had some paracetamol he could take, but amazingly, Roberto had never heard of paracetamol and thought I could give Rob some parasites. Just remembering his puzzled expression gives me the giggles.
So Rob is sleeping here tonight because Roberto's sheets seem to be either full of dust or very damp - he can't breathe properly at night.
The sunset today was breath-taking. There was a storm just before 5, and when that cleared there was a beautiful light and a strong wind that made the clouds move very quickly and change shape and colour constantly. There were dark blues juxtaposed with light yellows, deep pinks with pastel oranges...
I seem to be annoying everyone with the light still on, so I'll say good night.