Off to Italy

Henry, former travel guide who once visited Venice 14 times in one year, reckons we are dicing with the weather if we delay, so we are off on Tuesday.

He doesn’t see the need for a wheelchair, though we thought it a good idea. He doesn’t want to see anything, he says, happy to sit in cafes with a glass of something and soak up the atmosphere. Sounds ok to me.

But he is weak which means taking it very slow.

Apart from his stint as a tour guide in the country, his childhood summers there gave him the language and the taste for the country.  As a child we took off for holidays in the car driving across endless France, finally reaching either Austria and the mountains or Italy and the Med. My parents were used to low planning and going where they felt like. My mother did all the driving; even non-stop one time when Henry was struck by  a recurring complaint, Rotlauf. It is a the fierce infection. The name means redrun, which says it all: beginning in the lower leg it moves up the body to finally kill, once it reaches the heart. His mother had it, before penicillin. She had to lie quiet in a darkroom for days, he says.   On this occasion mother drove from Austria straight to London for massive doses of antibiotic. Father in the back, quietly terrified.  It recurred recently; we had to go to Emergency and get the penicillin. It seems to be working, but it laid him a bit low.  It was fairly early on a Sunday and the place was deserted. Not like St Georges, (London) which never sleeps.

The 'guest house' got well and truly used with the party of 5: son, Laurie and family came for a week. It was really good.... they were exhausted from all the changes in their lives, so were happy to chill. It made the world of difference for them to have the house and spread. It is very comfortable and I am happy to be able to offer it as a sort of free hotel to friends and family.

Finally son cut off his pony tail which was not his best feature, and got a Polish haircut! 

All the men

Grandson Grisha and his cousin Vanya exploring the garden.

The cat feeling at home

Family dinner, pre haircut. Note Henry's masks on the wall,