So, we’ve finally managed to end our Winter hibernation on the Magra.   A lifetime of fixation with meeting deadlines has left its mark and we felt we really should get away by the end of April.   Late in our preparations for leaving we realised with a shock that April only has thirty days in it and not thirty-one, so we ended up going on the 30 th of the month, a day before we were really ready and precisely six months after we arrived. In our last few weeks on the Magra we actually got to know more people than in the previous five months and we even got a few going away presents.   Roberta and Marianne gave us a plant, which Marianne explained was for Sue to put in her next garden, if and when we finally buy another house.   In calm seas it travels on our cabin roof, lashed to the compass with a bit of elastic.   I hope the poor thing survives,   but I have my doubts.   Roberto is an eccentric former village doctor (“il Dot...

Yes, we’re still in Ameglia.   I haven’t written for a while as we’ve actually been really busy.   We have been out of the water for over three weeks now, catching up on winter maintenance and doing our bit for the local black economy.   Hopefully we will go back in the water next week, then spend a week or two saying our goodbyes before heading South to Elba, Corsica and Sardinia. February and early March were spent entertaining visitors and visiting our friends Bernie and Sarah in Montpelier and since then we’ve been in the boat park scraping and sanding and painting.   Looking back over past newsletters I’ve noticed an insidious “Year in Provence” tendency creeping into them.   You know, “aren’t the locals quaint and aren’t we so lucky to have the wisdom and perspicacity to be doing this, blah, blah, blah”.   As an antidote, I have to say that living in a boat out of the water is not particularly romantic.   Using a sea toi...

We’ve been in Ameglia for three months now and membership of the local Blockbuster has been just one more step down a road of increasing domestication.   On our return from Cologne we finally acquired an Italian mobile ‘phone and on the 9 th January after much ringing around and comparing of prices we travelled back to Milan by train to pick up a small blue hatchback which we are renting for two or three months.   Driving back from Milan we got a real insight into a Northern Italian winter as snow and sleet lashed against the windscreen.   Travelling in darkness over the range of hills that overlook the gulf of La Spezia the temperature was well below zero and the snow was starting to settle on the autoroute.   Fortunately the coast is milder and we lost all trace of sleet and drizzle as we dropped down into our local town of Sarzana. Having had a car for three weeks now it has changed our lives and given us an even better feel for the local c...