I suppose that you're all curious how the house is progressing? Well, it's going terribly fast. Nesio, the contractor, and his team are doing an incredible job. They work very hard 7/7 from dawn till after dark. Where do you still find such an incredible service? Such a passion for a job? One could argue that the current crisis obliges builders to go the extra mile in order to stay in business. However, with Nesio I don't think this is the case. He's a bit of a shy character, but once you've earned his esteem he shows his true, warm nature. We've invited him and his assistant out for dinner in a very nice restaurant in the city of Castelnovo Ne' Monti. We wanted to show our utmost appreciation for all his excellent work and for his patience when his bills aren't always paid immediately due to the stupid Belgian banks. I'm actually feeling very much inclined to name and shame the bank in question in this blog because of all the trouble they've already caused us with their petty little rules and their arrogance towards us, their clients. Probably in a couple of weeks when we've paid the bridge loan back. Anyway... many many thanks, Nesio and your team!!!
So, here are a couple of pictures which show you progress until Wednesday, when I returned home. First a picture of Christine having a well-deserved picknick after a whole morning chopping off concrete plaster from the walls and excavating floor tiles. I'm so worried that her fraill little body will one day seriously crack. But she just keeps on going. What a wife...
The inside of the house after the old roof had been taken off...
The exterior. For the first time you can see the beautiful stone that appeared after the concrete plaster had been removed...
The structure for the new roof...
The roof waiting for the finishing touch... the tiles. You can also see the newer part of the house that was built in ordinary brick in stead of stone. Like I already mentioned, we're going to cover that part in a kind of beige-brownish coloured plaster. A natural colour that should go well with the Italian stone, the greyish window frames and the environment.
The house as seen from our driveway...
The situation just before I left. Do you like the old-Italian tiles? And what about the chimneys?
There's this story about the richest man in the world. He lived in a palace, so huge that noone could ever see the end of it. It's roof reached as high as the sky and it was supported by a countless amount of gigantic pillars. It's ceiling was enlightened by an ever-changing mosaic pattern which wowed the man every day again by the stupendous images it produced. And if that wasn't enough, every morning when the man woke up, the floor was covered in the most precious diamonds for as far as the eye could see. Even though the man lived in his palace alone, he was ever so grateful for the incredible wealth that he had been endowed with.
But it didn't take long before the rumour of his immense fortune had spread to the city afar. And all of the people in that city had become hungry for a part of this fortune. So one day they set out on a long journey to the man and his palace in order to claim their share. Many miles they walked and walked. Late in the evening, long after dark, they arrived. Thousands of them.
- "Welcome", the man said, "welcome to my palace. I'm so happy that I can finally share my fortune with all of you." - "Well then", someone from the crowd shouted, "where is it all? Where's the palace? Where's the ever-changing mosaic? Where are the diamonds?" - "Be patient, my friend", the man gently replied, "wait until next morning and I'll show you everything."
Reluctantly the people obeyed and made their camp, fully determined not to let their patience be put to the test any further after the break of dawn.
The next morning the sun climbed above the hills and the people from the city assembled again. They were yelling for the man and the night's waiting had made them even greedier. Where had the man gone off to? If he wasn't going to show up any minute soon, they'd hunt him down and forcibly take what they believed was theirs for the taking. At last, the man came down to them and greeted them kindly. Tears of joy were rolling from his eyes.
- "How lucky you all are", he said with tremor in his voice, "my palace has never been so beautiful as it is today." - "Your palace?", the people asked in surprise, "well, where is it then?" - "Look around you... just look..."
The man pointed at the magnificent forest with its endlessly tall trees, majestically waving their leaves in the wind.
- "But... those aren't pillars! This is not a palace! It's just stupid bloody trees!", the crowd angrily shouted back at him. "And where's this mosaic of yours?"
The man pointed high above him, to the beautiful clouds that constantly changed into the most stunning images imaginable.
- "But... that's not a mosaic! Those are just stupid bloody clouds!", the crowd shouted even more angrily. "And where are your diamonds? We want your diamonds!" - "Look...", the man said while spreading his arms and pointing to the endless meadows around them, "I've truly never seen so many diamonds like this morning!" - "But... those are no diamonds! It's just stupid bloody dew!"
The crowd had become furious by now. They'd travelled all this way for nothing. For a bloody fool! They couldn't contain their rage any longer. Thousands of hands grabbed the man and started beating him and beating him. Eventually, in the evening when they'd had enough, the crowd walked back to the city. And left the man's body hanging on a rope from one of the pillars of his castle.
I know... it's a rather sad story. But Christine and I feel so related to this man that I just had to tell you. I've just returned from my week's visit to our palace and I'm sure that you'd appreciate to see some pictures. These were all but one taken from our garden. The last picture was taken from the other side of the valley and the little red arrow points at our house. And just like in the story, Christine and I believe that we live in the most beautiful palace in the world... To us, this is what's life's all about...
You may remember that the moment I returned from Italy in September, leaving my beloved Christine all alone over there, that I immediatley booked tickets to go and visit her again. I planned to be there for her birthday, next Thursday. What kind of a husband would I be if I let her celebrate it all on her own? So Wednesday I'll take the first flight to Bologna, where Christine will come to pick me up for a week's stay. I'm sure that our cats and other animals should be able to survive that period without me and that our neighbours will well look after them. Oh... I just can't wait! Two more nights... And she doesn't yet know which presents I'll be carrying for her! I'm sure she'll be utterly surprised because this time I've really done my very best. Hush hush!...
This also means that this will be the last message on this blog until my return on the 25th. So please don't run away because... I'll be bàck!
At last Christine was able to send me some pictures of the works. These aren't the very latest ones and they only show progress during the beginning of the works. As I already said, in the mean time the roof's been taken off, the main walls lowered (below the level of those small attic windows) and the new roof structure's been built. Also all of the cement plaster has been taken off and a new, coloured cement layer has been put on the left part of the house, where the former garage was (future living room) and where the guest house will come on the first floor. That part of the house was added to the main structure at a later stage and the outside walls there aren't made of natural stone but just ordinary bricks. Therefore we very much liked the idea of the combination of old stone for the main part of the building and coloured plaster for the more recent part. Christine hasn't told me yet which colour she's chosen and frankly I don't want to know either. I just want to be wowed when I'll see the house finished for the first time. I'm sure though that it will be a lovely colour which perfectly matches the original, rural character of the house (ochre? warm yellow? light brown?... we'll see... )
Clearing the surroundings of the house from wild trees and plants...
Placing the scaffolding...
Supporting the ground floor ceiling...
Reinforcing the first floor with concrete (view of our future bedroom)...
Old roof structure before it was dismantled. You can see that most of the wood is still in a very good shape...
And finally another cake that Christine made to celebrate the birthday of one of Cosetta's neighbours...
One of my absolute passions is looking at the stars. Nothing's more relaxing to me than installing myself on a comfy camper bed under a thick blanket during a dark and starry night. When I was twelve I joined the national observatory of Hove, nearby Antwerp (www.urania.be) which became my second residence for about ten years. In stead of going to the disco I spent many nights in its tower in the company of two or three mates and the observatory's largest telescope. At dawn we watched the sun rise above the houses before driving home on our bicycles, knackered but totally happy. I also bought my own little telescope and used it on almost every evening when the rotten Flemish weather allowed it. In 2003, after having settled with Christine in the house we built, I bought a brand new telescope. Much bigger and more professional. But to my own surprise I quickly got tired of it because it didn't show me as much as I wanted. So two years later I bought a bigger one still. Which lasted about a year before I got tired of it as well. Eventually, I built my own telescope. And that one'll have to do for a long time to come, otherwise Christine promised me she'd pack her suitcases. Or rather make that my suitcases. In fact, it's so big it hardly passes through the door anyway.
Unfortunately, these are sad days for us, astronomers. The majority of people actually believe that the more lights you put at roads and around houses, the safer it will be at night. Wrong of course. The more lights you install, the more accidents will happen on the roads because people will become less concentrated behind the wheel, will start speeding more easily (false sense of security) and other cars let alone cyclists or pedestrians are less easily spotted. The following pictures show the difference between a dark street and an illuminated one. Which car will you spot earlier, you think? And what about that pedestrian wearing a reflective jacket?
Public lighting even makes life easy for burglars because they can do their job without the aid of a torch, and still hide in the shadows if someone's passing by. Can you imagine how much attention they'd draw upon themselves if they had to use torches in absolute darkness? Or how much more effective anti-burglar lights would be? When walking through total darkness a sudden halogen flash in your face will knock your night vision out for about 15 minutes!
Well... I can go on about this subject for hours as you might have already guessed. Oh, did I already mention global warming and energy waste? Fact is that even in the Belgian countryside where I live, the nightly sky is more of a disgusting kind of orange than the beautiful, natural blue-black and it's hardly what you could call covered in stars either.
Italy to the rescue again!!! Before deciding on where exactly we should look for a new home, I carefully examined the Italian light pollution charts. And when Christine went on her first reconnaissance trip last March I gave her the important instruction to look for possible street or other lights in the vicinity. I'm now totally assured that where we're going to live the sky will still be magnificent. Perhaps not perfect, but then again I'm not too keen on moving to the middle of the Sahara desert...
So if anyone of you is planning a visit in the future, if you're interested, I'd be delighted to show you a couple of treats which the nightly sky has in store for us.
Shocking news! Danilo, our architect and friend, has been in a terrible car accident this weekend. According to what Christine's heard, he must have fallen asleep behind the wheel and driven off the road. The fire brigade had to cut his car to pieces in order to get him out. Rumour goes that "another 4 inches and he would have been paralised". He's been extremely fortunate and can leave the hospital tomorrow. Although he will have to wear a collar for another three months or so because two of the vertebrae in his neck have shifted.
Christine and I would like to wish him a speedy recovery and we are so happy that he's come out of it relatively unharmed.
In the mean time Danilo's son, who is also an architect and works in the same office, has taken over his father's duties. Christine also speaks very high of him and assured me that our house is in the best hands.
Christine finally managed to send me some pictures from her cake-baking activities so I can tell you about how things went during the local Chestnut Festival two weeks ago. As I said, all the ladies from the village bake a cake for that occasion. What I hadn't understood at the time, was that they indeed make them for free, but that they are then sold at the market and that the proceeds go to a project for the village. Let me just say - with a certain pride bordering arrogance - that Christine's cakes were already sold out in minutes! This is the main cake she made for the festival:
And here are couple of her cupcakes:
Ohhhh... How feel gutted that I wasn't there to taste them all...
from dawn till after dark. Where do you still find such an incredible service? Such a passion for a job? One could argue that the current crisis obliges builders to go the extra mile in order to stay in business. However, with Nesio I don't think this is the case. He's a bit of a shy character, but once you've earned his esteem he shows his true, warm nature. We've invited him and his assistant out for dinner in a very nice restaurant in the city of Castelnovo Ne' Monti. We wanted to show our utmost appreciation for all his excellent work and for his patience when his bills aren't always paid immediately due to the stupid Belgian banks. I'm actually feeling very much inclined to name and shame the bank in question in this blog because of all the trouble they've already caused us with their petty little rules and their arrogance towards us, their clients. Probably in a couple of weeks when we've paid the bridge loan back. Anyway... many many thanks, Nesio and your team!!!
and that our neighbours will well look after them. Oh... I just can't wait! Two more nights... And she doesn't yet know which presents I'll be carrying for her! I'm sure she'll be utterly surprised because this time I've really done my very best. Hush hush!...
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