I will start with my very own fatto di cronaca, for I, at least, deem it newsworthy: I am late posting because I have spent the last 3 hours having a fight with the glass doors in my bedroom. These, for some reason known to glass-door-gremlins, are resolutely stuck and will not open – and you need them open in the evenings in this heat [still 36 C at lunchtime and 30 C as I walked home from work last night at 7]. This could not, of course, happen during all the weeks when I had a man, in the form of James, staying with me – oh, no! The doors had to pick their moment. Yes, I have made with the screwdriver, had the lock off and back on but nothing will budge the things! I am reminded of some lines by U A Fanthorpe:
"There is a kind of love called maintenance
Which stores the WD40 and knows when to use it."
["Atlas"]
Let us move on:
The Agrigento water shortage continues and the splendid woman mayor of the town of Naro has, in the company of law enforcement officers, visited the water plant herself, to find that the gate had been tampered with. It has now been sealed. The townsfolk, it seems, have now been without running water for 2 weeks.
In June, I mentioned the initiative in Castelbuono [Palermo province] to have rubbish collected by a team of donkeys, now numbering 5. They collect the different types of rubbish from door to door and the town has achieved the national recycling target and saved money. I am delighted to tell you that now that comune has won a government prize.
Finally, just to reassure you that the credit crunch is hitting everywhere, there was this in the Telegraph the other day, informing us that the Mayor of Salemi [Trapani] is offering houses for 1 euro. So why aren’t I at the front of the queue? [1] I’m sure Salemi is charming but it is not the area in which I wish to live. [2] I might be able to come up with the 1 euro but I do not have the many more thousands of euros that it would take to restore such a dwelling. [3] Even if I did, I can’t sort the bedroom doors, let alone supervise a team of workmen on a restoration project!
"There is a kind of love called maintenance
Which stores the WD40 and knows when to use it."
["Atlas"]
Let us move on:
The Agrigento water shortage continues and the splendid woman mayor of the town of Naro has, in the company of law enforcement officers, visited the water plant herself, to find that the gate had been tampered with. It has now been sealed. The townsfolk, it seems, have now been without running water for 2 weeks.
In June, I mentioned the initiative in Castelbuono [Palermo province] to have rubbish collected by a team of donkeys, now numbering 5. They collect the different types of rubbish from door to door and the town has achieved the national recycling target and saved money. I am delighted to tell you that now that comune has won a government prize.
Finally, just to reassure you that the credit crunch is hitting everywhere, there was this in the Telegraph the other day, informing us that the Mayor of Salemi [Trapani] is offering houses for 1 euro. So why aren’t I at the front of the queue? [1] I’m sure Salemi is charming but it is not the area in which I wish to live. [2] I might be able to come up with the 1 euro but I do not have the many more thousands of euros that it would take to restore such a dwelling. [3] Even if I did, I can’t sort the bedroom doors, let alone supervise a team of workmen on a restoration project!
11 comments:
Your quote is spot-on: WD40 is absolutely the best for things that stick and things that squeak.
Could high humidity and heat caused your doors to swell? WD40 might not be able to solve that kind of problem, but you never know.
Well James does not strike me as the handyman type so I would not regret that too much but go looking for a likely looking prospect in the environs. I am sure there is some one who would be delighted to help you.
Poor Agrigento, two weeks, that must be unbearable.
Actually I am sure you would be very capable of supervising workmen, a very different skill from DIY, but as you say 1 euro buys you a license to spend millions more.
Hang on a moment - I'll be right down there.
Nice to read the updates which, of course, are quite meaningful to me, given my recent initial stay in Sicily.
Great to hear that the Castelbuono donkeys are still in employment. That's such a good idea.
I do hope you manage to sort your doors. Are they the jammed-slider type or the seized-solid hinge type? Both kinds can be equally intractable in their own ways. Good luck!
I hope you sort out the doors soon, I can't imagine having the doors shut in that heat!
Ciao, flutterby. I didn't think of that. Hi, jmb. I'll let the man himself answer that! The troubke with men is that there are never any around when you need them. As for suervising workmen, I had enough of that in the UK, where they keep disappearing in the missle of a job! OK, James. I'm sure you could fix it! Hi, dragonstar. Err - I don't know! Ciao, cherrypie. I'm hoping to get it sorted tomorrow.
I'll have a house for a Euro...
Welcome to Sicily, Mutley!
I love the idea of those rubbish collections. Perhaps donkeys would be impractical in Romford though.. I suppose the chavs would try and nick their shoes!
We'd all be keener to recycle if it were collected by donkeys!
Love the quote. Like jmb says, there must be someone - like your water-carrying man - who would be delighted to help you.
Hi, Liz. I don't like to ask, though!
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