Tani Auguri, Claudio!

Day 7.

I overslept causing me to arrive at the workshop gone 9. I greeted Claudio with 'Tanti Auguri!' (Many Congratulations!) because it was his birthday. 
My job of adapting the reed block, which carried over from yesterday, was completed quickly Claudio then introduced me to something new - tuning. This involves fitting reeds individually into a make shift bellows (foot pump) and pumping air to make the reed sound. Attached to the machine is a tiny microphone, which is linked into a piece of electrical equipment. On this equipment frequency settings are chosen, along with the note and octave of the reed. When the reed is played a green line appears on a small screen. If the line moves to the left the reed is flat and needs to be sharpened by filing at one end. If the line goes to the right it is sharp and needs to be flattened using sandpaper and across the middle. The green line should sit in the middle of the screen. This all sounds very complicated - and it's only the first tuning stage! 
The tuning carried me through until lunch, when I had mini pizzas again and watched The History Boys DVD. 
In the afternoon I carried on tuning. The three of us in the workshop decided on Michael Jackson's Billy Jean for our session and I subsequently took to an accordion to work it out! Lots of jokes were had today. Also, the phone rang less and we only had one customer in the shop. We even burned incense in the afternoon, too.
After work Claudio, Stefano and I went straight into Stradella for drinks and 'aperitivi' (nibbles). Claudio paid and then insisted on buying drinks for another 6 friends he bumped in to! Stefano dropped us back home and I went next door to Claudio's apartment for birthday tea. Kleidi joined the family, too, although Simone could only be present via Skype - he's been working in Turin all week. Gnocchi with Gorgonzola, meat with stuffed cherry tomatoes, and strawberries were on the menu, before homemade Nutella cake. We watched yet more football - there's been at least one match on TV every night since I arrived. I'm not complaining though!

And so, to bed x