Narrowboatboy’s Big, Bad Blog...Narrowboat & Travel blog based on Lancaster Canal

As the inevitable festive season approaches, we take a break from the Italian language lessons and I thought I'd slip in a quick blog before the year ends and before we push on into 2018 with more Brexit negotiations. Here in Italy, Christmas is a much lower key affair than I have witnessed in the U.K. There isn't the same manic hysteria with people desperately panic buying packets of vol-au-vents, sausage rolls and bottles of egg-nog in the packed festive aisles. Here the supermarkets are flogging pallet loads of 'Panettone's and 'Pandora's, along with big prosciutto hams and strong sheeps cheeses....but strangely, no Port? It only really starts to get underway here from 8th December, on the night of the much disputed and misunderstood 'Immaculate conception' actually, then it moves at a slower pace up to the main festive days. Here there are a few seasonal decorations up on folks houses around here and they appear to be a little more reserved than us. ...

Now back in Italy 🇮🇹 and the air is a little cooler in the evenings and even a little frosty early in the mornings. As the golden brown leaves continue to fall the place has an Autumnal feel about it. Days are still bright and sunny. We are now just into November so pinch, punch and it's time for a holiday! Not for us, but it IS for the Italian folk, who seem to like a day or two off. So, November the first is 'OgniSanti' or 'All Saints' day.  This day was agreed ages ago when confusion reigned as there were so many different Druid and Pagan shenanigans going on that clashed with what the Christians and the other God botherers 🛐were up to, so the party police must have all held a general meeting and agreed on one day for all...' and cleverly came up with ...'All Saints' Day...ingenious!☯️ The next day, the Second, being my personal favourite, is 'Giorno dei Morti' or 'Day of the Dead'. ⚰️ Anyone who has seen the blood-fest Zombie trilo...

It was the first time I’d been stripped off to a T shirt since I landed back in Blighty as I battled today with the intense heat.... Id taken a train up north first and then connected to the X95 Borders bus that was leaving a very, very inclement Carlisle.  OMG!!!!....within ten minutes it was like a sauna on wheels....35 degrees on the inside which had passengers gagging for air as we went splashing up the A7.  Not being able to see bugger-all through all the steamed up windows didn’t help and then only stopping briefly for oxygen when the doors opened at various God forsaken, arse-end places where no one actually got on or off.....welcome to the Scottish Borders! This old lass was dead by the time we got to Hawick but no one except me noticed...she will be like an old cow stuck in a cubicle by the time they find her in Edinburgh in three days time... Now at 36 degrees C... No wonder there is no water in 🇮🇹 as it would appear that it’s all here ...

Well it's the last day of September and we are still averaging 22/23C with almost everyday being incredibly warm and sunny....I keep banging on about it cos it's sooo different from the weary inclement weather in the north of England. It makes a real difference. Things are starting to 'green' up again. And a bit of winter veg is planted and growing nicely in the 'Orto'. It's a fantastic temperature for working outside, getting the garden sorted, getting the grass cut and having a hour or two of solitude every now and then with the strimmer. Admittedly Iv had to visit 'Trenti's' a couple of times just lately so that Maximillion, the main beardy fixing man round here, could put new bearings in the rear mower when it ceased and also fit some new drive belts but he's only in the next village and always very helpful with a smile. Proper rural service by proper rural fixing men! Iv also been spending a bit of time up in th...

Iv always thought that it's a strange word....foraging! To forage:   a wide search over an area in order to obtain something, especially food or provisions. synonyms: scavenge ,  hunt ,  search ,  look ,  exploration ,  quest ,  scout ,  probe "a nightly forage for food" Basically you are nicking stuff from Mother Earth...or is she is providing it for you to nick? Well, I'm guilty as charged....and I'm having great fun doing it. This is a great time of year for it and Iv been out in the mornings, carrying a brew and having a good scavenge. The local markets are currently full of 'Porcini', retailing at about €20 euros a kilo which is a 100% profit if you been out and got them for nowt on a walk. Iv not been as lucky as to find porcini but i do seem to do ok most mornings for the run of the mill fresh fungi that pokes up in abundance in yonder front field. There's loads of st...

It's never ceases to surprise me when I find out who's reading my blog and it's quite obvious to me that Teresa May must also be tuning in. I'm thinking that she must've read my quick guide to 'Florence' last week and booked herself on the next flight out. I just hope she didn't book Ryanair or she might be needing a lift home! It's been a funny old week.....(Christ, I sound like Ronnie Barker in Open All Hours!) Autumn has arrived and I have per..per..pp'progressed up into the woodland to have a clear out of the old trees and creeping brash and working to get the ditches and drains ready for the onslaught of winter and the anticipated heavy rainfall. Armed with machete, a strimmer, a chainsaw, a rotavator and a mattock I have been tackling the terraced woodland areas. It's kinda nice just being able to work on the land, just being outside and able to get on with practical things with no constraints or timescales to adhere to. ...

September is a great time to start to visit places like Florence. They get far, far too busy during the scorching summer months and you can't move for selfy-sticks fastened to idiots with paper maps. Today, the weather is perfect so I'm off on the train to the big city! Going from the little local station of Terontola it takes about an hour and a half until you get off at the end of the line at Santa Maria Novello(SMN),bang in the centre of Firenze. I know that there are days and days worth of museums and art galleries but today is just a stroll around my new nearest city of culture, just to get my bearings and I can tell from the start that its going to be slightly better than the previous city of culture I visited......Hull! Five minutes from SMN I head up through the busy Central Market, a foodies paradise and then passing through the Piazza Di San Lorenzo I suddenly turn a corner and look up.  You can't help but be impressed as you take in the sight of the huge 'Cat...