February 2017

Ostuni, Monday, 08:15  pm

I am sitting in my favorite spot in the house: the cozy velvet green sofa. It first was a kind of grayish beige–that kind of fresh beige that becomes dirty after too many people sit on it. A very nice lady, Federica, upholstered the two comfortable seats.

Yesterday we went to an Italian movie, perfetti sconosciuti (perfect strangers), to upgrade my Italian a bit. It was hilarious: great content, sharp dialogue, perfect acting, amusing twists. It was about seven friends having a dinner party and, as a game, they decided to put all cell-phones on the table to prove they trusted one another. Many secrets rose to the surface, and the evening ended in a bitter fight. A must-see, if you ever get the chance. Also a perfect subject to discuss among friends, with a glass of wine, or Italian dinner (as we did yesterday in la Filosofia – delicious food by the way!), afterwards.

Today in the early morning, driving through rain and mist, hubbie managed to drop me on time at the airport. At 1:30 pm I landed in Brindisi, under a shiny Puglian sky. Hopeful and patient I waited in line at the car rental office. I ordered a Fiat cinque cento, as I always do but never get. I always hope for the old iconic model but usually get the renewed ugly version. This time they handed me a shiny (hurts the eyes) red Hyundai, that looked like a covered wheelchair. But once I was on the road, I was happy: on one side the glistering silver green olive trees,  on my other side ongoing hedges of oleanders (and it did manage to go much faster than a wheelchair).

Stopped at the supermarket, the Ipersimply, where “La spesa che non ti pesa”, free translation: the groceries that don’t cost too much. I go there for the simple reason that there is not a lot of choice of markets open at siesta-time. Continue Reading

Do you see these wires spoiling the view of our lovely front yard? Any idea what their purpose is? Right. Electricity. Conclusion: it is a pity that they’re in the middle of the trees, but at least we have electricity.

This is what you would logically think. But not in Puglia. Electricity is being delivered by the one and only Enel! Or, put differently, electricity is being delivered when Enel is in the mood.

Let me explain. We signed a new contract with Enel soon after buying our house. Since we don’t have a house number, we had the bills sent to Francesca, who tends to the house with her husband William. The two other options we suggested, sending the bills via email or even sending them the old-fashioned way through the regular mail to our home address, were refused.
This worked pretty well for a while. As soon as Francesca received a new bill, she would scan it and e-mail it to us. Until December. The contractor was in the middle of building our kitchen when the electricity stopped. Simply stopped. After inquiry Enel answered they blocked us off because we didn’t pay the last two bills. We didn’t receive any! Reply: it is your responsibility when the invoices get lost, you should have guessed there were bills somewhere.

So I paid those bills (all of a sudden they could e-mail me these invoices) the moment I received them. This was end of December. Problem solved, I assumed. Not in Puglia. The bureaucratic rollercoaster jumpstarted: Continue Reading