The master of waxing!

Day 33.

Today at the workshop I started by completing Stefano's job from yesterday - pinning reeds in place on reed blocks. Some accordion manufacturers prefer(-red) to secure reeds in place using four pins, rather than wax. Fratelli Crosio often used this method. Once that was done I added reinforcing springs to valves before re-pinning the reeds down. The 'springs' are thin pieces of metal attached with glue to the top of the valves, to regulate the opening of the reed. After this I went back to sorting the tuning of the diatonic accordion for the Mexican market. Using a soldering iron I had to heat up reeds to melt the wax so they came away from the reed blocks easily and cleanly. A few of them then had to be placed elsewhere on the reed block. Some of the shorter reeds needed a little piece of wood at one end because their new slot was too long. Claudio congratulated me on using my brain and my judgement on which reeds needed wood. He said I'm starting to think in the right way. To apply the reeds we used the quick method of waxing: melting a lump of wax on a hot soldering iron and running the wax along the sides of the reed tablets. We agreed that I'm a master of waxing! Although only when it comes to accordions!!
I received post this morning - a parcel arrived at the shop, addressed to me, containing DVDs Dad had sent over. How exciting! It confused Claudio no end!
Soon lunchtime came and, after a lunch of focaccia and salami, I went for a walk to the gelateria. I thought it best to make the most of a sunny day in the middle of a week of fairly grim weather.
Back at work in the afternoon, I finished the waxing before Claudio and I set about sorting the replacement reeds for the Mexican tuning. We got very confused with this unusual tuning and had to solder tin to some reeds to change their tuning, while we had to file some others down. I then applied valves to them, so they're ready to be waxed in place tomorrow.
I made a cracking dinner of tomato & mushroom sauce with pasta, before heading next door to watch the football. I'm now absolutely whacked and definitely ready for bed.

Buondì x

My photoshoot.

Day 32.

Another Monday morning, another 8:20 alarm. Down at the shop today I was working on my accordion and having made a new hole for a screw, I had to fill in back in & remake it because I'd messed up and the hole was too big! I spent most of the morning faffing with that! 
At lunch I had focaccia with fried onions & mushrooms.
After lunch I tested the microphones on my accordion and we discovered that the bass side doesn't work, but none of us could work out why. We're going to look into it tomorrow, I believe. Midway through the afternoon two photographers turned up and asked to photograph things in the workshop. They're doing a project on the area and want to focus on Stradella's main claim to fame - its accordions! I showed them the Dallapè Liturgical accordion and they took lots of photos of that. I then played my accordion for them and felt like a model - so many photos of me playing! Playing my accordion again after 3 months was very strange - it's so heavy & big and I've forgotten all my classical repertoire! After they'd gone I had to take a few reeds out of a diatonic accordion so they could be replaced with different notes. This seemed strange to me, but this tuning is what the Mexican market uses. While looking for the reeds to use, Claudio showed me a huge stash of reeds he has, including a complete a set of 'new', handmade reeds for a bandoneon. They were made in 1935ish by Fratelli Crosio and are still in long blocks rather than individual reeds. They were stunning specimens and preserved so well! Towards the end of the day I had great fun trying to teach Claudio the difference in pronunciation and meaning between - heal, heel, hail, hill, ill, eel and ale. Great fun! Hilarious!
Home time and a walk in the rain beckoned. A dinner of spaghetti with tuna has set me up for bed now.

Ci vediamo domani x

Unlimited BBQ ribs!

Day 31.

I woke up at 10 today and at 11:30 I left with Ivana and Erica for Ivana's parents' house, picking up her nephew, Matteo, on the way. We sat down tot a lunch of homemade gnocchi with ragù sauce before a main of rabbit with chips, peppers and tomatoes, followed by Colomba and Easter eggs. After watching some rugby & playing basketball with Matteo, Erica and I left for Broni, where we met Kleidi at the football ground to watch the match. Kleidi wasn't playing because he was suspended. I'm definitely a bringer of bad luck because Broni lost 2-0 and there was a bit of a fracas between the two sets of fans.
After the game Erica and I went to the Broni basketball arena to play a bit with Simone and two of his friends. Kleidi soon arrived, too. We soon moved to a cafe in Broni for drinks before decided to head the the Roadhouse for some dinner.
The Roadhouse is a grill restaurant, specialising in meat. Simone, Erica, Kleidi and I were joined by Simone's friend and fellow Broni basketball 'Viking', Fabio. The Sunday deal at Roadhouse is a reduced price of 10€ for BBQ pork ribs, which could be topped up for free. All You Can Eat ribs! I went for two rounds. They were fantastic and came with a compulsory bib!
After dinner Erica and I went back home where I introduced the Beltramis to the choir I sing with and they asked where they can get a CD!
I'm now back in my flat ready for bed ahead of work tomorrow.

Arrivederci x

A very quiet Saturday.

Day 30.

I slept in until 9:30 today before heading down to the shop, where I did a couple of jobs on my accordion while I chatted to Stefano.
When we got back at lunchtime I barely ate anything, still recovering from last night's feast. My afternoon was taken up with researching various trips: the trip to Genova to meet Stephanie at the airport, our trip to Milano and our return to Genova to catch the plane home. Trying to juggle train timetables, shuttle buses and maps got very confusing and made my head hurt! It'll all be worth it when the plans come off, though.
After accordion practice, a spot of reading and a small plate of ravioli I went next door to watch Inter Milan vs. Napoli. It wasn't the best game and it finished 0-0.
I'm preparing myself to wake up to horrendous weather tomorrow - that's what the forecast says, anyway.

Buona notte x

Pizza Night!

Day 29.

Today I slept in until half 11 and then got up and did lots of accordion practice. I had a lunch of salad and bread before doing more practice and some reading. The afternoon soon disappeared and at 6:20 I went with the Beltramis to their cleaner's house for dinner. The five of us were joined by Kleidi, Ivana's sister & nephew, Julia (the cleaner) and her husband, Gianluca. The meal started with antipasti - salami, bread, pancetta, pickled cauliflower and roasted peppers.
The next course was pizza. Julia and Gianluca have a homemade, brick, wood-burning pizza oven - a work of art, I must say. We all filed downstairs to the basement garage to admire the oven and watch Julia assemble the pizzas. They just kept coming; topping of ham, tuna, salmon, vegetables, sausage, mozzarella. I ate so much and was already full when I was told there was a meat course next! This consisted of arrosticini - lamb on skewers - and mixed meat kebabs (all cooked in the pizza oven) as well as chicken cooked in crushed cereals. After a small break came dessert: tiramisu, cake, pear & chocolate tart and a fruit jam tart. Just when we thought it was over, and I was fit to burst, bowls came out for strawberries with sweetened cream and/or ice cream. I couldn't finish mine!
When the food finally stopped Gianluca brought out lots of old coins, which he, Claudio and Kleidi spent a while looking at researching. I think there were some fairly rare and valuable ones in there!
We left at 11:30 having eaten like kings! We had better food than most restaurants, and in abundance, and we didn't have to pay a penny.
Massive thanks must go to to Gianluca and Julia for a fantastic night, brilliant food and being so welcoming!

Salve x

My new friend, the drill.

Day 28.

When I got to work today I polished a metal grill for yesterday's diatonic accordion before I applied gold cloth to said grill and the wooden frill on the bass side. Ivana cut the material to size and I glued it on. Once it had dried Stefano and I reassembled part of the accordion. My next job was was to drill holes in reed blocks. The drill bit was 1mm and the holes had to be dead central on the reed dividers along the reed blocks.
Soon after this it was lunchtime, so I had my daily lunch of salad & bread. After I lunch I walked into Stradella, in the baking sun, to visit the bank, supermarket and gelateria. The walk did me good, by me legs still hurt from yesterday's run!
I returned to work at 3 and had to adapt an amplifier. It's structure was too weak to hold the 4.5kg of electronic control panel so I drilled extra screw holes in the metal supports inside and reattached them with glue and screws. After this I replaced the bellow gasket tape on the accordion Claudio was tuning, and once he'd finished the tuning we eventually got home just before 8. Time for dinner - ravioli with tomato sauce, while I watched The Parent Trap.

It's another national holiday here tomorrow so I'm hoping to lie in. Fab.

Buona notte x

The day I went for a run.

Day 27.

At last, the sun appeared again this morning. Arriving at work, Claudio & I worked together to fix an air leak on an accordion, before Stefano and I were tasked with working on a diatonic accordion. While I demoted the reeds - thankfully only screws involved, no wax - Stefano set about replacing the key felts. He cut them out of a large piece of felt - they were a funny shape so that wasn't easy.
At lunch time I walked home and had the same lunch as yesterday. I've decided I need to do some exercise out here, so today I bit the bullet and went for a run. Stupidly I went in the heat of the day and too soon after lunch, so it didn't last long! And by golly, do my legs hurt now! It's been a while...
Back to work at 3 and I took photos of a shabbily built diatonic accordion, before I was asked to glue Stefano's key felts on the other diatonic accordion. Some of the new felts were too small but we made new ones. Suddenly Claudio got very excited and told me to get in the car. I had no idea where we were going until we got there. It turned out to be the local DIY shop, where we bought a small metal shelving unit for the shop. We were back by 6 and I now had to remove old fabric gauze from the body of the diatonic accordion with a portable sander, before Claudio showed me a couple of jobs I have to do tomorrow.
We went home just after 6:30 and I put my dinner on straight away because my tummy was rumbling - the leftovers of my sauce from yesterday with pasta. I ate it while talking to Stephanie on Skype before heading next door to watch the football and eat chocolate.
I'm absolutely shattered, so it's bed time for me now.

Ciao x

Day 26.

After the two days off for Easter it was back to work today. My task was to take the bass mechanism out of an accordion. A customer had dropped their accordion and the body had cracked & broken on the bass side, so we had to take the mechanism out in order to send that side of the body away for repair. The bass mechanism of an accordion consists of lots of long, thin rods, which interlock via several arms on the rods. A lot of the removal process is easy but there are some rods that appear impossible to remove - they eventually come free after a bit of jiggling. Erica came to the shop and started demounting reeds from reed blocks - a strange thing to see (!) - before her, Ivana and I went to the supermarket.
When we got back I cooked some beef chunks I'd bought and made a beef, mushroom and tomato sauce for my tea. My lunch was only salad and focaccia.
Soon it was time to return to the shop, where I quickly finished removing the bass mechanism. Claudio and I didn't do anymore work after that, and we closed just before 5 as Claudio, Ivana and Erica had to go to Torino to sort out Simone's new flat.
I took a piano accordion home so I could play some folk stuff for fun. Back at the flat I played said accordion before powering up the hop to heat up my majestic sauce and some pasta. The sauce had had a lot of cooking time so was now thick and gloopy and dark. It was amazing! I followed it with some ice cream.

Not a particularly interesting post today, I'm afraid. Here's to better things tomorrow.

Buona serata x

Pavia Fantasy.

Day 25.

Today was a national holiday in Italy so we didn't have to work . As a result I slept in until 11:30! When I finally got up I met the usual lie-in conundrum - do I have breakfast now or do I wait until lunch? I waited half an hour or so then had a lunch of crisps, Nutella on toast and tinned fruit. I then spent time looking at accordion-related stuff on the internet and playing the accordion.
At 2:30 I went to Pavia with Simone, Erica and some of their friends to "Pavia Fantasy", an event held in Pavia castle where there were stalls relating to Harry Potter, Lord of the Rings, Game of Thrones and more. Lots of people were dressed up, mainly in Medieval costumes, and there were drinks stalls selling ancient-recipe beers and liqueurs.
Afterwards we went to Pavia - a lovely town with lots of attractive, historical buildings. We had ice cream and walked around the town before heading back to the car.
We when arrived back in Stradella we found an open bar and went in for drinks and aperitivi. Another 10 friends joined us and we stayed for about an hour and a half. When I got home I made a small plate of spaghetti with tomatoes followed by a Creme Egg.

Back to work tomorrow. The weather has been overcast again today; I hope it brightens up again soon.

Alla prossima x

Buona Pasqua!!

Day 24.

Today was Sunday, so a lie in was permitted. I woke to the sound of birds singing and church bells ringing in the sunshine. "Happy Easter" I said to myself. My breakfast was a single Creme Egg. Not only was this an Easter treat, but also a very small breakfast it preparation for the Easter feast I'd been promised for lunch.

Claudio and I drove up to Ivana's sister's house in the hills where everyone met - the 4 Beltramis, Me, Ivana's parents, Kleidi, Ivana's sister and her husband, son and father-in-law. I was promised a feast and I certainly got one:

- Antipasti: salami, insalata Russa, coppa (cured pork neck), olives, anchovies, peppers, vegetable tarts and bread.

- Primo piatto: meat ravioli in meat sauce

- Secondo piatto: roast goat kid, roast lamb, sausages and roast potatoes

- Dolci: fruit & ice cream

All of this was followed by Easter eggs and Colomba (Italian Easter cake). Ivana's nephew, Matteo, 8, had about 15 Easter eggs and he just kept opening them! He only seemed interested in the toys inside, though, so the chocolate just kept piling up! Everyone else was too full to eat it!

Ivana's sister has eight cats and one new kitten, which can only be about a week old because it's tiny! It was running everywhere, struggling to climb things because it was so small and generally just being very cute! It left me with some nasty scratches on my legs - accidentally I hasten to add. After all the Easter egg fun Kleidi, Matteo and I played a bit of indoor football, which burned off some of the food, I'm sure!

Claudio and I then drove, through the rain, to Ivana's parents' house where he slept and I watched football. Everton vs. Manchester United came on and I was glad when Kleidi and Erica arrived and whisked me away, back to Stradella: as a United fan it didn't make good watching!

At home I didn't have any tea - I was too full - but I did have the Easter egg Stephanie had sent me away with. After accordion practice I spoke to Stephanie on Skype.

Now, bed time.

Buona Pasqua a tutti x

A pyjama day.

Day 23.

After last night's frivolities I allowed myself an extra fifteen minutes in bed today. When I got to work at 9:45 Stefano had started transferring the microphone onto the correct accordion (follow on from yesterday) so I gave him a hand. Claudio asked me to check the new accordion (also mentioned in yesterday's blog) and then told me to spend a while playing around with the MIDI system, as I've never had a go at using it before. It was good fun and interesting, but I'm not sure I could use it all the time. The new owner of this accordion came (drove down from Switzerland) and tried it out - he asked me to play it for him, too. Another customer whose new accordion was also finished and ready for collection came and I played that for him as well. With all this excitement and business I got home well after 1 o'clock and had mozzarella on toast for lunch.
After lunch I played did accordion practice and spoke to home on Skype. The connection was terrible but everyone was there - Mum, Dad, Daniel, Sophie, Grandma and Grannie. Later in the evening I spoke to Stephanie on Skype, too, but the connection problems reeked havoc once more. I watched Jason Manford's DVD over a dinner of tomato & basil sauce with pasta, followed by an apple and ice cream.
It's tipped it down with rain almost all day so I've been in my pyjamas since I got back from work with wet clothes on.

Salve x

The wrong accordion.

Day 22.

Back to my normal routine today. I was at work by 9:15 and my task today was to fit a microphone system to a 3-row diatonic accordion, with the help of Stefano. We made holes in several places and attached wires here, there and everywhere.
After a lunch of mushrooms, focaccia and tomatoes, and a walk to the gelateria I returned to work to discover we'd made a mistake - we'd fitted the microphone to the wrong accordion. There were two 3-row diatonics for the same customer and we'd mixed them up. We didn't set about changing them over today, though. Claudio was putting the finishing touches to the tuning of a new accordion, when he asked me to put the cover on the bass side of the same accordion... but it didn't fit. Stefano began sorting the problem; what should have been a case of attaching four screws turned into a two hour job with a variety of tools.
Romano, his wife and two eldest kids turned up mid afternoon to pick up the reed blocks he'd left with us. Romano and spent the afternoon playing a variety of accordions and talking about it, too. He was tasked with testing the new accordion and its MIDI and microphone. More problems arose when he did, though.
At 8pm ten of us went to an agriturismo in the hills where we certainly ate well - antipasti, ravioli, risotto, beef, tiramisu. We joked and talked and laughed and ate long into the night until Romano suggested we go as they had a long journey back to their house in the next region. We left and drove back to the flats, where we all said our goodbyes. I'm so tired and definitely ready for bed.

Buona notte x

My brain hurts!

Day 21.

Mum and Dad left today so we had to be up fairly early so they could get ready and leave in plenty of time. We popped into the workshop so they could say their final goodbyes before they drove off to Pavia, leaving me at the shop. I walked back home to do a few things before I returned to work at 10. 
Today I started something new - the second tuning stage. This requires attaching the finished reed blocks onto another homemade bellows machine (a different design to the other one) and choosing the reed you wish to tune. With this tuning method we use two very precise iPad/iPhone tuning apps. To tune we use a file, little hooks and varying sizes of thin, round metal rods with sharp edges to scrape away at the reeds The difficulty with this method is that half of the reeds are inside the reed blocks, so they're hard to access and therefore tune. I'll post photos of it tomorrow. I struggled with it and Claudio had to correct me/show me again several times.
I got home at lunch to find a few food items on the table - I'd asked Erica and Ivana to pick them up from the supermarket for me. My lunch was a plate piled high with focaccia, tomato, salami and mozzarella, while I watched The Two Ronnies.
After lunch I carried on with the tuning until I'd had enough - it requires a lot of concentration so you start to feel tired after a while. Once I'd stopped I helped & watched Claudio finish installing a microphone and MIDI to an accordion, while we listened to lots of folk music. Soon it was time to go home, where I got into my pyjamas straight away before having a veggie-tomato sauce with spaghetti, followed by an apple and ice-cream for dinner.

And now, I think I'll get an early night.

A domani x

Translator Ben.

Day 20.

After a brief lie-in a touch of accordion practice Mum and Dad arrived at the flat. We drove to Stradella's accordion museum and, after struggling to find the entrance, introduced ourselves to the curator as "Friends of Claudio Beltrami." He said he only spoke Italian, which meant I had to work and concentrate extremely hard to understand what he was saying and translate it back to my parents. Thankfully, he spook quite slowly, though! I'm sure I translated some of it wrong and miss out crucial information, but I was quite proud of how much I was able to do. I was sweating like mad come the end of the tour! The museum itself is small (two rooms) but full of interesting things from the accordion manufacturing industry and several unusual, and more normal, accordions. 
We walked into town afterwards and went to the same cafe as yesterday, where we had salads and toasties for lunch.
Our next move saw us drive home and get into Erica's care for a trip to Broni to show my parents round. After seeing the sports centre and town centre we got ice cream and ate it in a little park. Then we drove up to a small chapel on the hill to see the fantastic view over the Province of Pavia. 
We returned home so Erica could do some work. My parents and I walked to the workshop to say "hi" and so Dad could take photos.
At 5:30 I went next door to set about teaching Erica to make fish pie - a long and messy process! By the end we had 6 people in the kitchen all doing different things, not all for the fish pie though!
When it came to dinner we started with antipasti - coppa (cured pork neck), bresaola (cured, lean beef), anchovies in basil, bread, mini pizzas, Pecorino cheese and vegetable salad. Then followed the fish pie, which the Italians loved! After a small break, in which Kleidi arrived from football training and ate his savoury courses, we shared in a huge amount of strawberries. After another small break it was ice cream time, then tea & coffee.
The whole evening was brilliant. Full of laughter, food, good company, English, Italian and general all round enjoyment. It's been great having my parents here and tonight was a super way to finish their visit.

Arrivederci x

A whole swordfish head

Day 19.

I overslept by twenty five minutes today which meant I had a bit of a rush to get out of the house on time. When I arrived at work O set about regulating reed gaps again, which I had a go at last work.
At 11am Mum and Dad arrived at the shop and I went with them to Stradella Market, along with Claudio, to buy fresh fish for Wednesday's fish pie.  The array of fresh fish was stunning and a whole swordfish head on the stall topped it all off. After buying cod, halibut and salmon we went back to the shop - Claudio drove, demonstrating how Italians drive! Claudio had a customer waiting at the shop and he asked me to demonstrate an accordion.
Mum, Dad and I then dropped the fish off back at mine before we drove into Stradella. We had a look around the rest of the market, which by now was closing, before going to a supermarket. We had lunch - drinks and light aperitivi in a cafe before getting ice cream again! I had to speak Italian in the market, the cafe and the gelateria, and Mum kept saying how impressed she was with my Italian!
Back at the apartment, Mum fell asleep, Dad read and I tinkled on the accordion. 2 hours later we left the house again, this time heading back to their accommodation, via the workshop and a bigger supermarket. On the way to their accommodation in the hills we stopped off at a cemetery to admire the view from one of the lower hills before heading up, stopping at a little village further up as well. Eventually we reached their agriturismo in Moriano, where Dad took a nap while Mum and I went for a walk. We photographed the stunning views from several vantage points. On our trip we heard a wonderfully musical church bell and heard, and saw, a cuckoo. After delaying our departure we headed back to Stradella, stopping several times to take photos of the sunset. In Stradella we went to the restaurant within Hotel Italia, where we conversed with the waiters in Italian and English, although I spoke the Italian, not my parents! Our first course was antipasti - salami, pancetta with honey, chicken & balsamic vinegar salad, sweet baby onions and potato cakes with a cheese sauce. Our main course was meat ravioli with a meat sauce (Dad & I) and spinach & cheese tortilla for Mum. Our pudding was described to us as "cooked cream with brown sugar." It turned out to be pannacotta with caramel sauce. All the food was excellent, as it was last week, and we were given a cut price because the head waiter knows Claudio and knows I work for him. I finished th day by speaking to Stephanie on FaceTime!

After a long and busy day, I'm ready for bed now.

Ci vediamo domani x

The parents arrive.

Day 18.

I hauled myself out of bed, regretting that it was Monday and therefore no lie-in could be had. I was at work by 9:15, where I carried on cleaning reeds. I helped Stefano test the wiring of a microphone system, too.
Lunchtime allowed me to experiment by having Mascarpone on toast - and very nice it was, too! I made my daily pilgrimage to the gelateria before wandering around Stradella trying to make contact with my parents to find out their eta. 
I headed back to the shop, but half an hour later Stefano took me the station to meet my parents - they'd driven from Pavia and we'd arranged to meet at the station. I got in their and directed them back to the shop, where they met Ivana, Claudio and Stefano before I gave them a tour of the shop. We made a brief stop at the flat and then walked into Stradella. Our first stop was the gelateria - yes, I did go twice in one day (!) - where I introduced them to the staff and said they'd just come over from London. One of the guys in the gelateria hadn't realised I was English and said I spoke Italian well! We took a stroll around the old part of Stradella before I walked them down to a supermarket, giving them a brief history of Stradella's accordion industry as we went. 
We got back to my apartment for a sit down and a chat before going to the shop again at 7. There, we met Claudio who accompanied us to Mum and Dad's accommodation - a beautiful agriturismo in the hills, with an amazing view and sunset. I'm very jealous, I must say! We drove back to the flats and I cooked a dinner of tuna & tomato sauce with pasta. We caught up on all that's been going on before they headed back to their accommodation.

Off to the market tomorrow...

Buona serata x 

Much needed sleep.

Day 17.

With today being Sunday I could lie in, and I certainly did that! I eventually got out of bed at half 11 and had a shower. I grabbed some bread and Nutella before settling into some accordion practice. 
After a light lunch, Erica and I left for Casei Gerole to Kleidi play football at 3:30 - we offered away support! I think I must bring bad luck because after last week's 0-0 Broni lost 1-0 today. Still, good fun watching football in the sun. We returned via the only supermarket open in Stradella on Sunday afternoons.
When I got home I settled down to watch Amadeus before doing more accordion practice.
At 9 o'clock I went next door for tea and a veritable feast was laid on - fried meats, cold meats, bread, tomatoes, artichokes and BBQ sauce, with strawberries and Kinder chocolates for pud. After tea most of us settled down to watch a 'Come un Tuono' (The Place Beyond The Pines) - a very long film. Simone and Ivan were getting stuff ready for Simone's work tomorrow.

A quiet day today, but the parents arrive tomorrow!

Salve x

A very late night.

Day 16.

I heaved myself out of bed this morning knowing that after 4 more hours work I could relax for a couple of days. This morning I was cleaning reeds with sandpaper and a chemical of some sort. Three men came in later to pick up a selection of Paolo Soprani "organetti" (diatonic accordions) that were in for repair. I heard Claudio explaining my story to them in Italian and later on one of them came over to talk to me. It turned out he was an American living it Italy, and good friend of Claudio. We spent a good long while talking all things accordion in English, before he gave me his card and they went on their way. I played a couple of pieces for them, too, but my memory failed me!
Soon it was lunch, for which I had pasta with a tomato sauce followed by my daily amble to Gelateria Chaira. When I got back Simone, Erica and I drove to the supermarket in Broni to buy ingredients for fish pie - I'm going to teach them to cook 'English' food when my parent come over next week. Trips to the bookshop and pharmacy followed, too, before Erica and I walked to a bakery to buy a Colomba (an Italian Easter cake, whose name translates as dove). The colourful array of treats in the bakery was fantastic. They sold fresh anolini as well, so I might have to make use of that! We returned home and I practised the accordion for an hour or so.
At 8pm Kleidi, Erica and I headed down to Alternative Cafe in Stradella for aperitivi with Simone and a couple of his friends, before going to Cafe Commercio in Broni. at 10 o'clock we all drove to BEFeD, a brew pub in Pavia for dinner with 9 other people. Our table was booked for half 10 and I was flagging before we even got there! The speciality at the restaurant was chicken - almost a whole spiced chicken served with chips and toast. I wasn't massively hungry but thought I should probably try the famous dish. And so, this giant plate duly arrived. It was very good and I actually got through most of it. The later it got the more the lights were dimmed, and the louder the music became until the place was full of Italians (thankfully none from our party!) dancing embarrassingly to old Italian and English disco songs. As Tom Lehrer once said, "The place was just soggy with nostalgia." Needless to say my ears were ringing when we got out and I was very glad of my bed at 1:30am!

Ciao x

Take-away pizzas.

Day 15.

Same old, same old this morning. I arrived at work just after 9, where I continued the de-mounting and cleaning process. Claudio explained what Stefano and I would be doing in the afternoon as well.
At lunch time we went back to the apartment and I had salad followed by Nutella on bread. My daily walk to the gelateria followed, where the guy asked "Solito?", meaning "the usual?" I really am a recognised regular now...after just 4 visits!
For the afternoon shift at the workshop it was just Stefano and I because Claudio and Ivana had gone to Torino to find a flat for Simone. The only customer we had tried speaking to me in Italian, although we did sell him a harmonica, and the phone rang about 90% less than normal. I'm sure customers knew Claudio was away this afternoon! I carried on with my job, but had to help Stefano adapt the bellows of an accordion, too. Later I cleaned my accordion a little as well.
Erica arrived at 6 and stayed until close, when she locked up. I then went with her to my favourite gelateria to buy ice cream to take home. We came out with 2kg, costing 32€! After that we drove to Broni to get takeaway pizzas. We ate them at home before everyone else got home. I had an Imperiale - cheese & tomato with sausage, peppers and garlic. When the others got home we shared out the ice cream before I headed home for bed.

Congratualtions to Stephanie, too, who passed her driving test today.

Buona notte x

A present.

Day 14.

A normal start today. When I got to the shop at 9 I carried on with my reed ago regulating from yesterday. I soon finished and Claudio checked all the reeds with me and explained where I'd gone wrong a few times. After a lot of sitting around again it was soon lunch time.
Nutella toast and Italian cheese crisps filled me up. I practised the accordion before walking into Stradella again. When I arrived at the gelateria the lad behind the counter greeted me with a cheery "Ciao!" and a smile before asking if I wanted a "copetta" (tub). He'd clearly remembered me and my order... my plan is working! We parted with "alla prossima", which means "until next time!" Happy days. I walked back to the shop in the scorching sun and had to sit outside for ten minutes as Claudio was yet to arrive. I did have to get rid of an Italian lady who wanted directions or something. I'm not quite sure what possessed me to answer her call of "Scusa", walk over and pretend I could speak Italian, but hey ho. I just kept saying "I don't know" and she eventually got the message.
In the afternoon I had a go at glueing valves onto reeds. I had to re-do a few because I cut too much off the end, which left holes. No good. After that Claudio gave me more reed blocks to demount and clean - basically starting again on the whole process I've been doing for over a week. Joy. He apologised but said it had to be done because Romano is coming back to collect them next Friday. This occupied me for the rest of the afternoon and will carry over to tomorrow. Just before close an old man came in with his accordion and Claudio soon discovered it was a very simple and quick problem that needed solving. The old man started speaking to me in Italian so Claudio had to explain my whole story. The old man then gave me 5€ as a present. I'm still not sure why...
We locked up and went home, where I made a cheese pasta bake - the best thing I've made since I've been here. I went next door afterwards to watch the football and eat ice cream. 
And so, the end of another day.

Ci vediamo x

"A botch job"

Day 13.

Back to normal today. 8:00 start and I arrived at work at 9. After a bit of sitting around I got on with, and finished, the tuning from last week. My next job was to regulate the gap beneath the reeds. This is a very important job as it determines the quality of the sound. If the gap is the wrong size the reeds will take too long to sound our will rub against the tablet in which they are set.
Romano arrived at 12 to drop off the accordion parts he forgot yesterday. A fleeting visit as he was on his way to meet some relatives at Parma airport. I made myself mini pizzas for lunch before taking a stroll into Stradella. I popped into the supermarket before going to a gelateria. I've decided to go to the same gelateria every day after lunch so I become a regular and get to know more people. Plus, I get ice cream!
Back at the workshop I carried on with the reed gap regulating. It was a very relaxed afternoon and Claudio spent a lot of time booking accommodation and researching hire cars for my parents. They're coming out on Monday for 3 nights! Claudio and I worked on a Hohner accordion bass mechanism. He explained that it was a bass mechanism created by Hohner that is not as logical as the Italian system. When made in Germany the Hohner system was okay, but now they're made in China with shoddy workmanship so don't work well at all. I used the phrase "a botch job", which Claudio liked very much. Apparently the Italians would call it "una baracca."
We went home for dinner and I discovered that Pecorino is the best cheese for cheese sauce. I had this sauce with the rest of the ravioli. I also did some accordion practice before speaking to Stephanie on FaceTime and heading to bed.

Alla prossima x

The return to Stradella.

Day 12.

I woke up in a different bed today, which was fun. I ate breakfast with Romano and his family over more discussions about the Italian inheritance system.After getting dressed I went outside to play football games with Giacomo and Valentina, two of Romano's children. When it was time to head back to Stradella, Valentina and I got in the car with Romano.
The journey back to Stradella took just under two hours, but halfway through, Jan, Romano's wife, rang to say he had forgotten the bits of accordions he needed to take to Claudio. It was too late to go back, though. 
When we arrived in Stradella, at about 12, we went out for lunch with Claudio and Stefano at a restaurant within the town's hotel. We had a starter of veal with tuna sauce; 'primi piatti' of saffron & sausage risotto and pasta alls Putanesca; 'second piatti' of 'polpette con pomodoro' (deep fried meatball-esque things with a tomato sauce. My dessert was pannacotta with a forest fruit syrup. All the food was excellent.
After lunch Claudio and Stefano drove back to the shop, while Romano, Valentina and I went to the gelateria - the third of the three in Stradella. I've now sampled them all! As we ate our gelato we went on a walk around the town and Romano showed us where all the old accordion factories were - Stradella used to be one of three main accordion-making hubs in Italy; sadly only a small few companies remain, but most of the old factories are still standing. Romano is so knowledgeable on the history of the Italian accordion industry! It's all so interesting - I've got a lot to learn and a lot of reading to do!
Back at the shop I played the button accordion Romano had brought over from England for me, and we had more discussions about the accordion, with Romano acting as translator between the Italians and I. The shop closed early as Claudio had a doctor's appointment, so Romano dropped me and my stuff back at my flat. I came home to find Ivana had washed my clothes and folded them all individually and placed them in piles on my bed! I did over an hour of accordion practice as I now have an accordion on which to practise. Funny, given I am working in an accordion shop!
Dinner was ravioli and tomato sauce.

And now, I shall get an early night.

Arriverderci x

p.s sorry for the late posting again - having serious wifi problems at the moment x

Time for a holiday.

Day 11.

An early start today to be up in time to catch the train. I walked to the workshop to meet Claudio, who drove me down to Stradella station. At the station I bought my ticket and waited for the train; the 8:51 to Piacenza. Eventually it came and I boarded. Immediately the guard wanted to see my ticket. When I gave it to him it was evident that something was wrong and he started speaking to me, so I told him I was English and didn't understand. He wrote something on it and gave it back to me. 
I had to change at Piacenza, where I eventually worked out which train I was supposed to catch to get to Parma. At Piacenza station I saw lots of little machines on the wall. It soon became apparent that these were for validating your ticket, which I had failed to do. I assume this is what the guard was trying to tell me.
Romano and one of his daughters, Emilia, met me at Parma station. For those of you who don't know, Romano is my accordion teacher. His parents are Italian and his mum still lives over here. They come over to stay with her almost every school holiday. The drive to his home took about an hour and a half and finished with lots of small, winding roads through hamlets, for their hour is in a hamlet way up in the mountains (800m elevation). The weather today was absolutely glorious and subsequently the views were stunning. The scenery and the surrounding area were gorgeous, too. I'm fast running out of adjectives, here!
Romano took me on a tour of the grounds after a spot of lunch. After the tour we set out for a tiny chapel in the mountains, alongside which runs a freshwater spring. The water was so refreshing and tasted great! Next we went to "località" Cocrovoli where there's a house belonging to Romano's father's side. He explained the inheritance situation in Italy and the reason why he only owns a third of a quarter of the house, which causes great problems. We popped into the local town of Bardi on the way back. A bit of football with two of Romano's five children and a long chat about accordions later and we were ready to head out for dinner. The five kids had all showered and came down in their glad-rags, looking adorable! At the restaurant I had 'anolini in brood' (mini ravioli in a broth/stock), "Stinco in forno con purè" (slow roasted pork shank with mash) and a caramelised cinnamon apple with mascarpone sauce.
Today's been a great day. Fabulous weather and good food shared with some good friends. I'm now heading to bed on a sofa bed next to a dying fire.

Vado a letto x