A day trip to Milan.

Day 64.

We got up at 7:00 this morning as we had an early train to catch at 8:20 Aris, a friend of ours who was at the meal last night, picked us up as he was going to Milan too, so got the same train of us. We were all in a bit of a panic because a transport strike was reported this morning, so we weren't sure what to expect in Milan. Our train left at 8:55 and was so direct so we got to Milan Rogoredo just before 10. We discovered the Metro wasn't affected by the strike until the evening, so we got on and travelled a few stops to Porta Romana where there was a little market. We also went for a drink in a cafe.
After that we all got the Metro to Duomo and walked through Galleria Vittorio Emanuele II to Aris' university - Brera School of Fine Art. He showed us round everywhere - Sculpture, Printing, Library, Theatre Set Design, Costume Design, Fashion, Botanical Gardens and Observatory. The build was fantastic; it used to be a monastery was all stone, so it was like walking through the corridors of Hogwarts!
When we'd finished at the university we walked to the park surrounding the castle and ate our lunch. Aris then went back to the university, while Stephanie & I stayed in the park for a bit longer as it was beautiful and the weather was glorious. The forecast said thunderstorms, but the sun was beating down and there wasn't a cloud in sight! Stephanie then bought a Milan magnet for her family's collection. We walked through the castle and dipped our fingers in the fountain on the other side.
Next came the fun bit - trying to find our way back to the Duomo (cathedral). We managed to find our way back to the university, by accident, and from there it was an easy walk back. We looked around Galleria Vittorio Emanuele II more - it's a very old shopping centre with a stunning domed roof. After that we walked to the Duomo and went inside, paying 2€ for a photo pass. It's a very impressive building, although not as ornate inside as I was expecting. We lit a candle together for our late grandfathers.
Next we made our way back down to Duomo Metro station and headed to Milano Centrale station, which is huge! We found a train stopping at Milano Rogoredo and got on it, but had a half hour wait for our next train at Rogoredo. Stephanie got a fright at Rogoredo - Aris jumped on her! We hadn't agreed to meet up again but he happened to be at Rogoredo at the same time as us. We all got the train to Stradella and along the way Aris drew a quick, but brilliant, sketch of Stephanie and I. 
We arrived at Stradella at 19:05, where we said goodbye to Aris and headed to a restaurant. However, it was fully booked so we went to the supermarket to pick up a few things to make tomato pasta. We also bought a a tub of ice cream from a gelateria to take back for pudding. We made our dinner and ate ice crew before starting to watch a film. However, after such a long day, with so much walking, we only managed to watch half before going to bed.

Arrivederci x

Siamo pieni!

Day 63.

This morning we leisurely got up and left the house at 10:30. We walked to the workshop where we chatted to the others for a bit. I picked up the famous little accordion to show Stephanie and discovered that three reeds in the bass had been waxed in the wrong place. I saw this as the perfect excuse to introduce to the work I've been doing. We took the reed block out and I showed her how to remove, clean and re-wax a reed. She seemed to quite enjoy it, and she did a good job, too!
At 12:15 we headed into Stradella for lunch. We went to Alternative Cafe and we both had tuna salads and mini toasted sandwiches, which didn't last long! After that we went for a walk around Stradella, which included discovered a great pained wall mural for the Oratorio and walking up the old town. We also went to the station to buy tickets for our trip to Milan tomorrow. The lady said I spoke Italian well! We finished stroll with a bit of ice cream and a mini supermarket trip. We walked home in the glorious sunshine and relaxed. I asked Erica for the key to our balcony so we could sit outside in the sun, reading, before we started double checking plans for Milan.
At 19:15 we went with Erica to Stradella, via Kleidi's house, and went for drinks and aperitivi with lots of friends. At 20:30 we went to Liros Pizzeria where we met Simone and some other friends. The meal was organised so most of the friends I've made could say goodbye to me. Stephanie got to meet them all too, which as lovely. I said I was paying for Simone, Erica and Kleidi as well because they've paid for me a lot while I've been here. Eventually the let me!
We got home at 23:00 and made sandwiches for tomorrow.
Off to bed now for an early start tomorrow.

Salve x

Reunited at last!!

Day 62.

I woke at 7am this morning; early but in plenty of time to catch the train to Genova. Erica dropped me off at the station at 8:20am, and I caught the 8:40am from Stradella to Genova Brignole, which stopped at several stations along the way. I sat on a flip seat in the vestibule area and read a book for the one hour and thirty five minute journey. When I arrived at Genova Brignole station I had two hours to kill before my bus to the airport, so I took a leisurely stroll in the nearby area and up a busy high street. I killed some time in a café before heading back to the station down the other side of the high street. 

My bus for the airport left at 12:26pm, one minute late, and I bought my ticket from the very grumpy driver! I was the only one on the bus until two others joined at another stop. I arrived 20 minutes before Stephanie landed but I just hung around in Arrivals. Finally the passengers from her flight started trickling in. Stephanie eventually came through and I managed to take a photo and put the camera in my pocket before she ran at me, threw her bags down and flung herself at me! She had a beaming smile on her face as she gripped tight to our bear hug. She was definitely pleased to see me, as I was her!! 

We boarded the bus back to the station and had an hour to kill before our train, so we ate our sandwiches before climbing up some brick steps, giving us a great view of one part of Genova. We took several pictures before descending the steps to return to the station and catch our train, the first of three! The first train took us to Genova Piazza Principe where we had five minutes to catch the next train, to Voghera. At Voghera we had a forty minute wait, so we found a café outside the station and sat outside until our train came, the one to take us to Stradella. 

We eventually got to Stradella, where Erica picked us up, albeit fifteen minutes late! We made our way into Stradella for ice cream and Erica had to pop into a shop. We stopped off at the workshop afterwards, where Stephanie met Claudio and Kleidi. After a brief introduction to Ivana back at the flat, Stephanie unpacked while I cooked our dinner of pasta with tuna sauce, which we ate fairly quickly! Then we popped next door to meet Simone before heading back for an early night after our early starts!

Ci vediamo domani x

Last day in the workshop...

Day 61.

Today was my last proper day in the workshop. The first thing I did was regulate a reed valve on an accordion where a note wasn't working properly. After that I took the left hand side off my accordion and prepared it for polishing, which Stefano will do in the next few days. My next move was to check the dodgy note from earlier and I discovered it wasn't alone! I replaced or adjusted most the reeds in the right hand of the accordion and that seemed to do the trick!
Remember the little accordion I've been working on a lot? Well, I was back to that next. Some of the metal trim on the right hand grill had come off so I glued it back on.
We went for lunch at 1, before I went to town for ice cram and pop into the supermarket.
I went back to work at 15:20, where Claudio asked me to count out 190 tiny blue gems (for accordion decoration) to be sent to his representative in Norway. After that I replaced the grill cloth on the small accordion, before putting it all back together. It's finished and I've done it all! Claudio just needs to tune it a little.
The rest of the afternoon was spent working on the only remaining Dallapè Liturgical accordion in the world. I had to take before & after photos of every move I made as its restoration is being controlled by a civic authority. We took the grill off, and another grill that was behind, and started unhooking all the register switches - a fiendishly tricky job on such a monstrous accordion. Sadly, I'm not blessed with patience, because it was definitely needed. Using a little metal hook I had to unhook tiny hooks from rods.
We went home at 19:30, via the petrol station, and I had my dinner. After that I spoke to Stephanie on Skype, before making sandwiches for tomorrow's lunch.
Off to bed now because I have to be up early to travel to Genova to meet Stephanie off the plane... 62 days later!

Ciao x

Lots of work today. Good stuff.

Day 60.

My first job today was to neatly pack away all the components to make the bass mechanism of a diatonic accordion. Then I had to put the repaired bellows back on an accordion, before regulating the keyboard height. A guy called Mauro Carra then arrived. He's an accordionist who I've met once before as he's a good friend of my teacher, Romano Viazzani. He's a long time client of Claudio's and has a virtually new classical button accordion that he's looking to sell, and I'm looking to buy one. He left it with us and I tried it once he'd gone. It's all black and looks great, and it has a great sound. It has some bad points, too, so I'm not sure I'll buy this one. I spent the rest of the morning applying the final set of reed valves to the small accordion after Ivana had waxed the reeds onto the reed blocks.
After lunch I walked into Stradella for ice cream, but found my favourite gelateria closed for the first time! Not to worry though, there were another two to choose from!
I got back to work at 15:15 and set about putting the springs on these morning's reed valves. After that I sorted out a few reeds in another accordion that weren't sounding properly. Then I put the reed blocks back in the small accordion and tested it, only to find that four of the reeds were waxed in the wrong place. I took them out, cleaned them and asked Ivana to wax them back in the correct place. In return I put springs onto some valves on two other reed blocks she's just waxed. When my reeds were ready and correct I put them back in the accordion and sorted some notes that weren't sounding properly. Kleidi's parents came to the shop for a chat towards the end of the afternoon before Kleidi and Erica arrived, too. I had a queue of jobs to do today and once I finished one I went straight on to the other. As a result I was busy all day, which was great!
When we got home I made a large saucepan full of tuna & tomato sauce and had some for my tea, before putting the rest in the fridge to eat with Stephanie when she arrives on Wednesday!

Time for bed now.

Buona notte x

Christmas, carbonara and chilli.

Day 59.

I woke up at 10 this morning and leisurely got ready and played some accordion. At 11:45 I went with Simone to Ivana's parents' house for lunch via the car wash! At their house in the hills we ate well, again! The first douse was bean & pea stew with cooked salami and pasta al forno. The second course was various meats with chips and salad. The meal finished with strawberries, cake and chocolate. Because it was my last Sunday in Stradella I agreed to play the accordion for the grandparents so they could hear me play before I go back. I played for about fifteen minutes or so, before we FINALLY persuaded Erica to play for the first time on five years! She had no music and couldn't remember much but we're hoping she'll agree to play with music again on Saturday! Once the musical interlude was over Erica and I went down to the garage to play with Matteo, who's trying to learn how to ride a bike. I tried to help him by holding the bike upright but he wasn't keen on that. We all played a bit of football before endless games of Indovina chi? (Guess Who?) in a mixture of English and Italian.
At 16:30 Claudio, Erica and I went home, where Erica slept and relaxed (she's lost her voice, which we're all celebrating!). Kevin and Liam soon turned up and us four guys sat around chatting before heading to Stefano's house to see the work he's been doing on the diatonic accordion project. Being a trained lute-maker, he's a specialist in woodwork and has been building a prototype body for the diatonic accordion out walnut wood. Kevin and Liam were very excited; they were like two little boys at Christmas!
Stefano then came with us to Piacenza where we met Simone and went to a beer house with thirty beers on tap. We sat outside in the warm evening sun and ordered some food. I had spaghetti carbonara, which, quite frankly, was disgusting! Not a patch on Dad's! Claudio also tipped beer all over the table! He then appeared with a basket of nachos and a pot of chilli sauce from inside the bar. The chilli brought the others to tears it was so hot! Liam and I sensibly decided against trying it! We then drove home, said goodbye to Kevin & Liam (they leave early in the morning) and I was in bed by 23:45.

Buondì x

The English arrive, again!

Day 58.

When I got to work I discovered that Claudio had already put the last key on the small accordion. My first job became correcting my mistake from yesterday on the diatonic accordion. I removed the four incorrectly placed reeds by heating them up with a soldering iron, before I cleaned the area on the reed block where they were to be replaced. I then waxed them in place and tested the accordion... I got it right this time! After that I regulated the height of the valve springs I applied yesterday. Next I applied a line of wax around the inside join of wood on the small accordion to stop air escaping. Claudio then polished the right hand part of the accordion a bit, before I put the grill and belt loops back on.
We went home for lunch at 12:30 and at 2:45 I walked into Stradella for ice cream. Kevin and Liam, the two English diatonic accordion players who were here a few weeks ago, arrived again today and I bumped into them on my walk home. We met up again almost immediately at the shop and I went with them and Claudio to the agriturismo in the hills where my parents stayed, too. They were blown away by the building and its position. We all went back to the shop to discuss more plans for their diatonic accordion project.
At 6ish they went back to the agriturismo and Claudio & I went home. Claudio had to rush off suddenly so I had to tell Kevin and Liam to go ahead with their plans for tonight without Claudio. That was after I'd had a call from Kevin to say they were lost on their way back to the agriturismo!
At 7 I went with Erica, Kleidi, Debora and Michele to Codogno where we met Simone and some others at Terminal 1, the restaurant/brewery we've been to before. We watched the Champions League final and I ate a BBQ pulled pork hot sandwich. We got home after midnight!

Salve x

The project still continues...

Day 57.

No waking up early today, thankfully.
My first job at work was to clean/polish the black keys of the accordion I've been working on. Thankfully I managed not to break any today! After that I applied valves to all the reeds of the accordion. There were a lot of them so it so it took me a while! There were five different sizes of valves, which had to be applied to the correct reeds. 
Soon it was time to go for our break and I went next door for lunch because Matteo was over in his school lunch break. We had pesto pasta followed by chicken dinosaur shapes and fresh white fish with salad. Pudding was a big jam tart that Ivana made late last night. I played a bit of accordion after lunch before going back to work, where I applied springs to nearly all of the valves from this morning. Again, there were a number of different sizes to use appropriately. Just before I put the springs on, Ivana filled up the glue bottle I was using and proceeded to spill glue all over the table! After the springs were glued I began reattaching the keys to the accordion. Claudio and Stefano had done some repairs on the body of the accordion during the morning, so Claudio checked the glue had dried sufficiently and I got the all clear. I put most of the keys back in place, but had to adjust some of them. There are still two to adjust and replace tomorrow. At one point in the afternoon Claudio asked me clean some reeds that had broken away from the reed blocks in a diatonic accordion and put them back in the right place for Ivana to re-wax in position, which she did. However, I then tested the accordion and discovered I'd putting some of the reeds in the wrong place! Whoops! Claudio and I each had a small bowl of strawberries in the afternoon after someone came to the door selling large trays of huge strawberries.
At 7:15 we went home and I had sausages, baked beans and potatoes again for tea before going next door for ice cream.

Buona serata x

The project continues...

Day 56.

I woke up in a made panic this morning thinking it was 8:45. I'd rushed to have a shower and a shave and then I looked at my phone. 8:05. I'd woken up 45 minutes early. Needless to say I wasn't happy! 

When I finally went to work the first thing I did was print off some music that Mum had sent me. Then I returned to yesterday's project as I waxed the valves into place, which allowed us to properly test the keyboard. However, this flagged up new problems - the keys were still noisy, which meant the felt underneath the keyboard needed replacing. We applied WD40 to the rod that holds the keys in place and, after waiting a bit, the rod finally moved!I took the keys out and removed the old felt. Some of the body underneath had come unstuck so I glued it back on, leaving it to dry while I cut the new felt. Claudio then called me over to demonstrate an accordion. Again! My next move was to glue the new felt on before it was time to go to lunch.

I didn't go to the gelateria as the weather as beginning to close in.

Back at work after lunch and, with torrential rain setting in, I set about putting the keys back in place. It was actually easier than I thiught! Once they were in place I had to remove the one on the end again and file down the edge of the key & body as they were rubbing together and squeaking. I then had to remove most of the keys again to grease the squeaky springs under a couple of them. In the end I took them all out as Claudio suggested I should polish them all. 

We took all the white keys through to the polishing machine, which Claudio demonstrated as I'd never used it before. I began polishing them and it was going so well, until one key got caught on the wrong side and flew to the ground, causing part of it to come unstuck (Stefano later glued it back together). I polished all of the white keys; I'll do the black ones tomorrow I imagine. The last thing I did before home time was to help Claudio glue some bellows back together.

After an hour at home Kleidi, Erica and I went to Liros, a very smart pizzeria/restaurant. I had a pizza topped with cherry tomatoes, capers, onions, tuna and anchovies. It was delicious! Next Thursday a large group of us are going to Liros with Stephanie.

I finished the day by speaking to Stephanie on Skype.

Arrivederci x

My big project.

Day 55.

I overslept a touch today so ended up getting to work at 9:30. I carried on demounting the reeds from yesterday and I soon finished. I then re-printed, filled in and scanned in some of my accommodation application forms after Mum said I'd messed them up! After that Claudio explained the next move for the little accordion - replacing the right-hand key valves and regulating the keyboard. We tried to pull out the long rod that holds the keys in place but it wouldn't budge so the whole project had to be done without removing the keys! I pulled the valves off each key and then pulled the felt pad off each of them. I smoothed the valves off with sandpaper, too. 
A friend of Claudio's then arrived and a few minutes later Claudio was offering my services as an accordion player. I have my first overseas gig! I have to play 30 minutes of Scottish/Irish music. Where? I don't know. When? I don't know, but it should be in the next week. Apparently there's 100€ in it for me, too! I quickly picked up an accordion and played a bit before Stephanie rang me on Skype on my phone to thank me for a surprise I sent in the post.
We went home at 1 and I spent most of my lunch break on Skype to Stephanie again!
When I went back to work I began the main part of the project. I cleaned the rods, on which the valves are attached, with sandpaper and cleaned the slots on the valves where these rods sit. After that I cut and glued the new felt pads onto the valves. Then came the fun bit - putting the valves back! I did the outer row (white notes) first. Once the valves were in place I had to regulate the height of each key by bending the rods using a small wrench. Tomorrow I have to secure the valves in place with wax.
At 6:15 Erica arrived and Claudio, Ivana, Erica and I went to the supermarket, although Claudio went to local DIY store instead.
When we got home I cooked sausages, baked beans and potatoes before spending the evening at home.

Buona notte x

Busy, busy, busy.

Day 54.

When I got to work at 9:15 I had to wait a while for a job, but eventually I was given the task of drilling the pin holes in reed blocks. A 1.5mm drill bit and each hole had to be dead central along a line. After that Claudio showed me how to fix new bellow straps onto yesterday's accordion. I did a pretty good job, I thought. After that I started to check that the right hand keyboard all worked. I found a few problems but I had to leave them until after lunch.
I had Nutella on toast before I went next door to share some details for Stephanie's visit. Then I walked into town to pick up a few things from a supermarket before going to the gelateria. I walked back in the sun and spent fifteen minutes at home before returning to work.
I set about fixing the problems on the right hand, which involved straightening some valves and adjusting some reeds. Once that was done I put the right hand part of the accordion back together. Then Claudio asked me to take photos while he took measurements of the bass side of a diatonic accordion. He then asked me to put some reed blocks back in an accordion and pack it up ready for it to be collected tomorrow. Finally, I had to start demounting the reeds from the reed blocks of a very small accordion. Thankfully the wax wasn't really serving its purpose so the reeds were easy to remove and clean.
We went home at 7pm, where I made tuna and tomato pasta, before speaking to Mum on Skype for nearly two hours.

Ciao x

Half a day.

Day 53.

I woke early today and got to work shortly after 9. First, I scanned in the final accommodation forms for next year and set them to Mum. Then I moved into the workshop where I spent a while applying springs to valves on an accordion, before doing the same to the bass side of the same accordion. Finally, I searched for new bellow clips, which I will apply tomorrow.
Claudio left early, so I walked home with Ivana and Erica. I had baked beans on toast for lunch, followed by ice cream from my freezer.
Claudio had to go to a funeral in the afternoon, so I didn't go to work after lunch. Instead, I spent the afternoon watching Only Fools and Horses and playing the accordion. I had a dinner of pasta Bolognese and now I'm off to bed as it's back to work tomorrow.

Ci vediamo domani x

A lazy Sunday at home.

Day 52.

Sunday. Finally. I was fully engrossed in a lie-in when the door rang at 10:15. It was Claudio, who needed something from my flat but couldn't get in with his key because I'd locked the door from the inside, so had to wake me up! Once he'd got what he needed I went back to bed and when I woke up again it was 12:10! I got up and had a shower before typing up yesterday's blog entry. Once I'd had a breakfast of bread and Nutella (fairly apt on the 50th birthday of Nutella, born about an hour or so from Stradella), I walked into Stradella for ice cream. The weather was glorious - very hot and sunny - so I had a bigger portion than normal. I took an extra long route home to enjoy the sun a little more. At home I made a ragù sauce and put it in the fridge. I spent what was left of the afternoon watching The Vicar of Dibley, playing the accordion and doing more male voice group arranging. I also worked out the final plan for Stephanie's visit and sent it on to her.
In the evening I had a surprise Skype call from Auntie Penny and Grannie, which was lovely! Penny said she hadn't seen Grannie smile so much for a few days! We spoke for about 10 minutes before we all went off for our respective dinners. I ate my dinner while talking to Stephanie on Skype. That lasted over an hour and was interrupted once by Claudio, who jokingly told Stephanie that she needs to get here soon because I'm being mean!

Buondì x

Champions!!

Day 51.

I got to work at 9:30 this morning, where I was tasked with glueing a grill cloth on a new accordion before I helped Stefano fix microphones onto two accordions. 
At 11:45 I ran home to collect a couple of things, before Claudio and Stefano came by to pick me up and we all headed for Vercelli; about an hour away in the car. We were off to visit Teknofisa, a company specialising in building accordion bodies, mechanisms and doing aesthetics. They're one of Claudio's suppliers. When we got to Vercelli we went across the road to a pizzeria for lunch with two of the four guys at Teknofisa; I had a sausage pizza. The Teknofisa workshop is an absolute tip! Claudio would never be able to work in it! Dust and sawdust everywhere, scrap materials all over the floor, every surface covered, tools everywhere, not much organised storage and things piled high! Despite the chaos it was very interest. One of the guys was copying a paint pattern on an accordion - and painting it exquisitely by hand. There were all sorts of machines and large tools for woodwork, as well as parts of accordions everywhere. We left with a boot full of accordion parts to take back to our shop.
We went home via Decathlon where Claudio bought some new shoes. When we got home I got changed before going next door for a dinner of fish with various trimmings.
At 8:30 I went with Kleidi, Erica, Debora and Anna to Casteggio to watch Michele, a friend of ours, play football. The match was a final of some competition or other and his team won 4-2! There wasn't a trophy presentation or anything though. There must have been 300 or so people crammed into the local "stadium" with a strong turnout by both sets of fans. There were klaxons and smoke bombs going off in the stand! We waited for Michele at the end and congratulated him before heading back.

Salve x

Lots of sitting around, doing nothing.

Day 50.

I got up at 9 and was at work by 9:45. I finished off glueing the new grill cloth from yesterday. Claudio was busy with another client & job all morning so I spent the rest of the morning sitting around doing nothing as he didn't have time to guide me through anything.
At lunchtime I went next door as Matteo and his mum, a teacher, were over in their school lunch break again. Yesterday Erica had a go at making cheesecake to my recipe on her own and we tried it for pudding today. I must admit, it was better than I've ever made it. Beginner's luck!
When we got back to work I did a lot more sitting around until the client from this morning finally went! Then, I found some reeds that weren't working on an accordion. Claudio sorted them out while I fixed the grill of another accordion. Once I'd done that I replaced the bellow gasket tape on the same accordion. While Claudio finished a tuning job I played an accordion and entertained him with lots of traditional Scottish and Irish music - his favourite genre.
At 7:30 we went home, where I finished of the tomato sauce I made earlier in the week. After a little while my accordion teacher, Romano, rang me on Skype and we had a long chat about accordions.

My cold has almost gone, by the way!

Buona notte x

Me! In latex glove form...

Day 49.

I took advantage of the offer of a lie-in today and got to work at 10:30. On the walk to work I passed a parked bus with an accordion on it. It belonged to a "Liscio" orchestra and was there all day.
At work I searched for a cushioned pad for an accordion, which Stefano later attached. I worked on replacing the grill cloth of an accordion, taking of the old and carefully glueing on part of the new cloth. Stefano & Claudio made a mascot of me made of an air-filled latex glove. Claudio said it's going to take my place when I return to England!
I was again offered pasta al forno for lunch, which I again accepted before doing accordion practice. I took my first walk to the gelateria for over a week and discovered a burned car along the way.
Back at work I finished glueing on one half of the new grill cloth. I also started applying a microphone to a new accordion, although Claudio was busy with a client and an urgent job all afternoon so his guidance for the microphone was few and far between. I guess that'll be my job tomorrow! I also had to clean a few reeds and apply a few valves for the job Claudio was doing. My final job this afternoon was to cut away some of the new grill cloth I'd applied so we could make a clean join with the other half of the cloth (still to be applied). I also tried a lovely Beltrami accordion called 'Le Petit'.
I had the same dinner as yesterday again today, before spending time watching The Vicar of Dibley.

Arrivederci x