An interrupted night .

Wilf is usually the one who suffers from his rabies jab but yesterday it was his little brother Digby who was knocked for six. One or other of us was up through the night letting him out of the house with what might be politely described as a severe stomach upset . I would stop the two boyz from having the annual shots were it not for the fear of what they might catch in Italy without them. Equally important is the simple fact that the annual vaccinations are needed for their pet passports. These documents show they have had the rabies jab and enables them to travel with us anywhere within the EU without having to go into quarantine for six months.

It is election day here in Italy and this morning the bar was full of hopeful would be mayoral and town councilor candidates and their supporters .When I arrived they were all gesticulating wildly and loudly declaiming their relative merits (and the idiocy of the opposition) to anyone who would listen. From the noise level it may be safely attested that restraint is not a concept known to the Italian political world.The police in their red striped trousers (complete with machine guns) were also in the bar having a not so quick caffeine infusion before opening up the polling booth.The road running through the village was resurfaced on Wednesday and a stretch of new street lights installed on Friday so presumably the incumbent mayor is either standing again or keen to show that his party gets things done. No one seems to have noticed or think it strange that this is a) the only work carried out by the authorities in the last four years and b) that it should be done a few days before the vote - In Italy abuse of office is clearly something of a foreign concept. This being a new united Europe we,despite being foreigners, are allowed to vote in the local elections but have kept this information to ourselves to avoid being drawn into the electoral drama.