Apart from anything else our recent property sales and purchases have essentially sorted out my lifetime finances, leaving me with a lump of cash and, when I start to get my old age pension in July 2021, a decent income stream. I had no idea when we gave up our jobs and left the UK in 2002 that it would be this simple and I have to touch wood that there will be no down the line economic and/or personal catastrophes that render this conclusion hopelessly misguided. Anyway, it seemed like the time to acquire a new motorbike and here it is - a Motoguzzi V9 bobber. My first brand new motorbike, well almost, it had zero miles on the clock when I picked it up from the dealers in Peterborough, though it had been pre-registered the previous November and came with a stonking discount. It's actually very similar to the Motoguzzi Nevada I used to have in Puglia and it suits me very well as it's really pleasant to ride, has some useful modern improvements like ABS and a gear shift indicator, looks cool and costs a lot less than a Harley Davidson.
In early September I returned to Puglia for my second Italian wedding of the Summer. This time I was conducting a humanist ceremony at a smart masseria to follow a Roman Catholic wedding at church in Ostuni for a lovely couple - a really enjoyable experience. Nicholas, the buyer of our house, had said that we were welcome to come back and stay anytime and so I emailed him to take up the offer. Charmingly he said "of course" and then said they would not be there at the time, so I had the place to myself. Staying out our old home, with most of the same furniture was a deeply unsettling experience. I had a profound feeling of being home and not home at the same time and had to check myself carefully to stop treating the place and its contents like I owned them. During my short stay I managed to catch up with our old friends Claude and Jane over a good lunch at their place on the outskirts of Martina Franca.
The one downside of 31 Winthorpe Road is that the garden is quite small and this was a big concession for Sue. Fortunately our neighbour Nick is a keen allotmenteer and let Sue know that there was a plot available at his allotments in the village of Winthorpe about a mile and a half down the road. Sue quickly acquired the plot and also put her name down for another one in the Fleming Drive allotments just a five-minute walk from the house. To her surprise she was offered an allotment there too after a relatively short wait.
