It's stopped raining.

Looking out from the house this morning across the valley towards Todi you could be excused for thinking that you were in Ireland. After the constant downpour of the last two days the countryside has taken on a deep emerald green tone. Most un-Italian for this time of the year. The boyz are enjoying the cooler weather and have taken to wandering down the hill towards the river. The studied manner of their foraging makes us think they are following the scent of the porcupines. We keep a weather eye open just in case our brave heros actually runs into one.

The newspapers today are full of the latest scandal surrounding the 72 tear old Italian prime minister and his alleged penchant for partying with under age and topless 'starlets'. The majority of the press here seem to take the view that this behaviour is a sign of virility and in no way impinges on his standing and dignity as leader of the government .The reaction if a British or US politician was seen frolicking in a hot tub with a house full of 18 year old girls flown in on for the event on government aircraft would ,I think ,be rather less relaxed.The other lead story is the horrifying disappearance of the Air France aircraft off the coast of Brazil. There is something about air accidents that makes one feel so powerless in the face of nature - the poor families must be distraught. I had always thought aircraft were designed to withstand any form of turbulence but apparently a BOAC aircraft crashed in 1963 over Mount Fuji in Japan when it was hit by extreme winds in a thunderstorm en route to Singapore from Tokyo. I'm not a nervous flier but the Miami - London flight is one flight I always try to avoid - 45 minutes out from the airport there is a period of about half an hour when the aircraft gyrates through offshore storms. Moving up and down 30 feet in a Boeing 747 doesn't sound bad but the human inner ear (and stomach) isn't adapted for it.