It was a short night for us. We were up at 3:30 am to take Bob and Joy to the airport at Pisa. They do not have a house in the U.S. but will visit a variety of relations over the next few months. Thus, they were traveling like turtles. Well, if not all their worldly possessions on their backs they had a goodly portion in their three large suitcases and four smaller carry-on bags. We managed to shoehorn four adults and all the bags into our small Fiat Punto. One large suitcase sat on the backseat between Bob and Joy. I told them the airplane seats would seem capacious in comparison. After seeing them safely checked in (no jettisoning of possessions at the last moment), we wished them buon viaggio and left.
Dom and I were back at the house by about 6 am. I promptly returned to bed but he had coffee and stayed up for several hours before joining me for a nap.
This afternoon we took a few things to the “dump.” Actually, it should probably more accurately be called a transfer station as the discarded items are eventually hauled elsewhere. The concept seems to be fairly new here. The operation located a few villages away opened last spring and replaces the prior arrangement of periodically bringing a giant dumpster to the village. It was always fun to see the dumpster appear suddenly, fill up and then overflow within a few hours. The local people would bring all their old possessions—broken furniture, old wine casks, cracked mirrors, dingy patio chairs—and pile them in. Within 24 to 48 hours it was hauled away. We took advantage of it once to remove some old items from our barn.
The new system, while much more convenient, is much less picturesque. The station is only open three days a week but that works so much better for us. One never knew when the old dumpster would arrive and it only arrived once every two to three months. Since we are only here part-time it was often difficult to get rid of old or broken items. It was so easy today that we can only applaud the improvement in service.
Our friends Rachel and Kim, who came with us to the “mattress festival” have posted their version of the evening on their blog—http://lifeinalessandria.blogspot.com/. Check it out for a great recap and great photos.
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