2022 and all that

Day 14: Capena

The house is totally empty now except for things I’m leaving for the buyers and my bed, which will be taken away on Tuesday. I left quite a big selection of random items out in the square last night and by this morning they’d all disappeared

I needn’t have worried about disposing of a selection of noxious paints and chemicals in rusty cans that I found in the cantina either. I put them out in the square this morning and people fell on them with glad cries.

I celebrated by going to the Buonavita club last night for live music and apericena.

Late night for Lottie at the Buonavita Club

This morning I went for breakfast at Fieni’s bar in Fiano with Teresa.

Then we did the 8 km cycle and walking path

We’d just decided to go for lunch in Nazzano, when Teresa got a phone call from her son to say he’d been in a car crash. He wasn’t hurt, but I took her back to Capena to help him get a tow truck and decided to go to Nazzano by myself. It’s not as if I’ve got any food at home.

Four courses including wine and water for €28

And there was a donkey

Day 13 – Capena

Things seem to be working themselves out here in Capena. We are due to sign on the dotted line next Tuesday and I’ll be the proud non-owner of Casa Galilei.

It’s been a roller-coaster ride of paying surveyors and the town hall to rectify previous planning permission errors, house clearing, watching people dismantle furniture and refereeing squabbles about who’s taken what.

Yesterday I took an hour off for a plate of pasta in the sunshine. It’s 20 degrees here.

Rosina Wachtmeister’s donkeys are spring up everywhere. This one’s at Da Edoardo e Edi

Cappuccino and cornetto costs 2 euro now. Still a bargain

Lottie entertaining some little girls while their dad dismantles a wardrobe

Day 9: Capena

Talk about hitting the ground running, I’ve been here under a day and the house clearance in preparation for the sale of my big house is going well. My cleaner has already taken practically everything that wasn’t nailed down.

I spread the word that I was giving everything away yesterday. People are already getting quite shirty because I’ve given away things they had their eye on. You couldn’t make it up.
I’m 100% sure the house will be stripped by Friday. I’ll be lucky if the radiators are still on the walls.

Tomorrow I’m going to the estate agents to meet the buyer and I suspect a few envelopes of cash will change hands. I’m not entirely sure what’s happening, but the final contract should be signed next Monday.

In the meantime, the weather is glorious and Capena is as quirky as ever

Beatifully restored Fiat Coupé by the war memorial

Poppies flourish by the graffiti in the car park

Day 8: Trieste to Rome

Started the warm, sunny day with a trip to allegedly the best gelateria in Trieste to meet my client. It wasn’t the right time of day for gelato, but I couldn’t resist sampling the wares at Gelateria Zampolli.

After that it was a quick trot to the station to catch the intercity train to Venice Mestre. The view from the train window at the start of the trip was a sight for sore eyes.

At Mestre, I had a nifty platform change and forehead temperature check from the station staff and was soon aboard the Ferrari of trains, the sleek Freccia Rossa to Rome. It whisked us there in about three and a half hours at a steady speed of 250 km/h for much of the time.

Freccia Rossa pulling into Venice Mestre station

Once I arrived at Rome Tiburtina, I had another swift platform change to catch the Fiumicino Airport train and pick up a hybrid Panda hire car for the week. Car hire companies didn’t used to be very dog-friendly, but Locauto has launched its Bau My Way scheme so I decided to take them up on it. Italian dogs go “bau bau” instead of “bow-wow”, hence the name.

Then it was my usual drive from the airport round Rome’s raccordo annulare ring-road and I got to Capena about 9 pm in time for a quick walk round the block.

Day 7: Graz-Ljubljana-Trieste

I had a really welcome riverside walk with Lottie off the lead this morning. Even though I was in the city centre, the birds were twittering and you could see snow-capped peaks close by.

Sunday morning paddleboarding on the River Mur

I came across Mur Insel, a beautifully-designed performance/exhibition space on an island in the middle of the river. Like everything else I saw in Graz, every effort had been made to ensure it was accessible and blended in with its surroundings, with top design and build quality.

Reflective surfaces blend in with the surroundings

Sympathetically designed lifts are everywhere, and they all work

Colourful crossings, why just boring black and white?

At the end of this quick glimpse into life in a truly smart and enlightened city, I stepped onto one of the trams and was deposited at the station in minutes – after passing through Esperantoplatz (what else?). No fewer than three helpfully-placed and clearly marked lifts helped me and my baggage along the way to my platform and the train arrived exactly when it was supposed to, at 10:48. By that time I expected nothing less.

The train ride from Graz to Trieste was relaxing and spectacular on a beautiful warm, sunny day. I didn’t have to get off in Ljubljana, even though it technically counted as a change. We hung around for about 15 minutes while a bit of shunting and coupling went on, then we set off again.

During the journey, I finished a translation about the embroidery of the Ursuline Sisters in Trieste and chatted to a young Portuguese couple who are missing the dogs they’ve left back home. They want to take them travelling next time and were full of questions about my experience.

The train rolled into Trieste exactly on time after a final section along the coast with great sea views. It was a quick trot along to my apartment so I was able to dump my stuff and head out in time to catch some great sunset views.

Coming to Trieste feels like coming home because it’s Italy, because the city has a great buzz with lots of bars and eateries – and because my most long-standing client lives here and I’ve been translating stuff about exhibitions, conferences and public buildings here for over 20 years.