After some rain during the night it wasn’t terribly surprising to wake up to an overcast morning.  The mist lifted but it was stormy and the rain did come – I hurried out and put the seat-cover on my bike just as the first drops hit.  The thunder was booming and Mo barked and barked, not liking it one bit – it seemed like she wanted to be louder than the big monster that she was hearing outside.

It didn’t rain long, then the clouds passed and it got sunny.  After trying several times to get thru by phone to Cascade Designs, who make my MSR tent, we figured out that we needed a ‘00’ before the country-code and the rest of the number that Dominic had forwarded to me.  Once the extra digits were entered we got thru easily and I was shortly speaking with a lady in the warranty/repair department. I told her what had happened and without asking any questions all she wanted to know was where to send a replacement part!  She needed my email address and immediately sent me an email with a diagram of the whole pole/frame apparatus and all I need to do is identify which part had chipped and broken, and tell her where to send the new one. She also assured me that it was very easy to take the broken piece out and replace it, and that people do it every day.

Colin and I then took a wheel-barrow full of old electronics to the tipping place – well, he took it while I walked Mo down to the campervan for the drive.  We stopped at a hardware store in Marsciano intending to see if we could pick up a jubilee clip as a temporary fix for the tent pole, but the store had closed 2 minutes previously for the (very annoying) 2-hour lunch.

Back at the house it was too hot to do any more door-staining so I stayed inside and continued reading a very good book that had been left in the house.  The previous owners had left, in addition to all of the furniture and dishes, an assortment of books and dvd’s.

Some time later the clouds moved in again, along with heavy rain, lightning and more thunder – no sitting out on the terrace this evening.

Thursday morning was so foggy you couldn’t see past the next house.  The sun slowly burned it off and the day gradually cleared. Took Mo-mo for a walk and got a cappuccino at Poppy’s – another kind of lazy day.  Colin did some more door-staining – the front door looks great with only two coats and the back now has its base.

The terrace is so lovely to sit and relax in – but having a mosquito coil burning definitely makes it more comfortable.

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