I woke up this morning with a dreadful head cold and more than my usual cough, so felt very sorry for myself.

Last night I was invited to join my very good friends from Santa Cristina out for dinner.  They booked a table at the osteria del  Bottaccone in a narrow valley just behind the medieval city of Gubbio.  Now they are fabulous friends and the osteria is one of my favourite eating places, so having finished varnishing the sauna, and having had a good sweat in the sauna, [alone 🙁 ] I showered put on my glad-rags and headed off toward the far side of Gubbio.  The evening was cold, indeed as I was driving to Gubbio it started to snow, that kind of romantic picture book big flake snow, which obscured the World’s largest Christmas Tree still lit on Monte Ingino above the town and fluttered in the turbulence of the car.

I was well wrapped up, but did not feel too great, that did not prevent me from feasting on a vast assortment of antipasti, gnocci, cappeletti, beetroot risotto, anatra con olive, fricco, patate al forno, crescia, melanzane ripieno and a calorific creamy pud, the name of which I now forget!!  I drank litres of water and wished for a driver so I could have had a glass or three of wine!

Conversation was brilliant, a lovely group of friends and people some of whom I had not met before, addresses were exchanged and ideas shared.

I must have got cold, for this morning I felt awful, and I hate feeling unwell.  To make matters worse I had an appointment with the woodsman who was coming to walk one of the woodlands here at Bellaugello Gay Guesthouse with a view to giving me a price for a felling wood for next year.  I did not feel like stepping outdoors let alone trudging through woodland.

My webdesigners were on the phone, we are replacing some of the photos on the website and putting some new ones on, particularly in areas where they were lacking, ie some of the Suites and some nice views including an amazing red sunrise that I blogged about several months ago.  Well it would be the day that my internet kept on crashing.  I had to send files of photos, and yes half way through the transfers –CRASH! NO INTERNET!   Oh I hate technology when it doesn’t work..

It has been a funny sort of day really, the dogs reluctant to go outside, as am I to go out and get firewood.  Grey clouds hang high in the sky and below on the horizon all-around a ribbon strip of blue sky, underneath the land is dull and pasty, the trees are still only the brightly coloured birds flying over the rooftops break the silent monochrome monotony, it has been rather like living in the centre of a large smoked glass sphere.

A friend telephoned from the UK, all is gloom there, spiralling petrol prices, increase on vat and his partner on short time working, his garage roof bucked under a metre of snow, glad I ‘m over here. Later another friend ‘phoned and we had a lengthy discussion about soap,  not that were not clean, we are squeaky clean, but I want to put nice guest soaps and shampoos in the suites.  Oh it is so difficult, so many brands to chose from, so many names, do I go designer, celebrity, eco, hand=made, perfumed or unperfumed, liquid or bar, what size, wrapped or unwrapped,  wrapped in what, and if I get Scottish soaps which I love will guests wonder why there are not Italian soaps, big pressured decisions, maybe I will buy them all!!

The post brought a couple of wine merchants’ lists. I pored over them as I cooked pasta for the dogs, and decided on a nice selection of wines to sample; montefalcos, sagrantinos, montepulciano d’arezzos,  now all I need is to track down some nice large wine glasses… feels like a shopping trip is due, after-all the sales are currently on. 🙂

And talking of shopping an ex-boyfriend rather famous for shopping telephoned last night.  We had a zany conversation about themed weeks here at Bellaugello Gay B&B.  This is a new section on my website, what exactly are ‘themed weeks’? Our conversation steered round to strippers – how would I organise a strippers’ week, can you organise a strippers’ week, does anybody organise strippers courses or is it just a skill you have anyway, would people want to come and participate, what if they were all ugly or had no sense of rythym, would the place get a sleazy name ??  We settled on the idea of him coming out here and doing a couple of pool-side stripteases, – he wants to wait until the summer also to give him time to get ‘buffed up’.  Knowing full well neither will happen, I need to think of alternatives, but it is a very nice thought…any cute volunteers??

I was supposed to be out for dinner again tonight, dogs and I all invited, (yes I’m in demand!!) but I telephoned to say I wasn’t going, I would have been rotten company, I will have an early night, like me, Edo has no energy but unlike me he has slept all day.

I am worried about him, his heart races, he eats little, he is so thin, and his back legs are weak, he falters.  I managed to get some pasta cooked in broth down him this afternoon, but he is not well, he tries so hard to be brave and strong, and I try to hide my distress, but neither of us are any good at it.

On the bright side I was given a link to a website with those super sexy pool lilos that you find in the Caribbean and the U.S.  I have tried to persuade chums over the pond to send them to me or bring them in their luggage, but that is not really practicable ‘but darling with those in our luggage here would we put our clothes??’.  Now I find they have made it to France, next stop Umbria hurrah!!

So now with internet connection restored, woodlands marked out,wines beginning to be chosen, soaps still to decide on, photos still to transfer, strippers to contemplate, and Edo snug on the sofa I look out of my sitting room window at the sauna and wish someone had lit the stove for me that I might go down there and sweat out this dreadful cold.

Tomorrow will be another day.