Un Giorno Felice!

A very happy day!

The 29th of July has been a day of celebration for us for the last 28 years. Because it’s our youngest son’s birthday. Especially important this year as he got married this month too!
However, this year the 29th takes on even more importance ... because it also happens to mark the first anniversary of us picking up the keys to our ‘kiwi4everhome’.
Yup!

A year ago today, we popped into our ufficio notarile (notary’s office) and scored the keys to our dream home. And such it has turned out to be too: Our safe haven against the outside world; our little corner of this planet that no one can take away from us; in short ... our forever home.
A place that’s proven, time and again, to be more than adequate for a couple of old(er) Kiwis!
Especially now that we’ve got it into a state we’re very happy with. I mean: We’ve replaced all the windows with double-glazed ones; we installed a brand-new kitchen; and, except for a couple of pieces, all of our furniture is brand new too.
Of course, we’d chosen the property initially because we thought its location would be perfect. Being within a few minutes’ walk (no stairs!) from about every retail establishment we’d ever require.
I’m talking supermarkets, chemists, bakeries, butchers, fish shops, etc., here, as well as the equally-important cafes and bars! And we park our car only a few minutes away.
Happy days indeed!

No Place Like It?

We arrived back from our son’s wedding in Mexico recently.
Afterwards, I posted this on Facebook: “Landing in Rome didn’t do it … but landing in Catania did. It felt like arriving HOME…”

And it really was the strangest feeling for me. I mean, I’ve always been a bit of a ‘gypsy’? Someone who likes to move about the place. Someone who, quite frankly, has always found it hard to settle down. Anywhere.
Ask my long-suffering wife!
Look at our shared life over the last 37 years: We’d settle in the UK (Basingstoke, Windsor, Hornchurch) then a few years later would up and move back to NZ (Wellington, Napier, Auckland). Rinse-and-repeat!
Something also reflected in my so-called ‘career’. Since getting my start in IT in 1985, I’ve held over 40 positions in as many different companies, in five different countries!
Was this because my father stayed at the same mind-numbingly boring job for decades until he died? And that wasn’t going to be my fate? Maybe. Maybe not.
F’sure my parents never moved once they’d settled down to raise their family. I cannot say the same, I’m afraid!
When I was in my 40’s, a friend said I’d have to settle down some time. I told him I was too damned old to settle down! And so it proved.
But arriving In Catania felt … different. It felt like I’d arrived. ‘Home’, like I said.
I’ll state here for the record: I ain’t ever moving again.

Had to Happen?

In March 2020, we survived the first UK lockdown.
That over, in July 2020, we managed to travel to Sicily for our successful ‘fact-finding’ trip-come-holiday. Decision made, we landed here in September to begin our new life in Modica. Incidentally, beating by days a travel ban from the UK!

Nasty little buggers...!

Since then, we survived any number of national, island-wide and local lockdowns without incident. We kept to the rules; we kept safe; and we were uber-sensible. As one should be, of course!
Then, in July 2022, it was off to Ensenada in Mexico, to witness our youngest son get married.
A welcome addition to the family, a wonderful country, and new friends (and relatives!) made. In short: An absolute joy, and an experience I wouldn’t change for anything.
Well … except for maybe one little thing.
Y’see, we survived that four-flight journey from Tijuana in Mexico to Catania, arriving home in Modica on the afternoon of Thursday the 14th. Jet-lagged f’sure, but otherwise happy enough.
But then the next day Alice said she felt unwell. Long story short: COVID!
It took her nine days to shake it off. And wouldn’t you know it, after thinking myself somehow ‘immune’, on Friday 22nd of July, I also tested positive.
Luckily, we had (have) only mild symptoms: Sore throat, a cough, tiredness and (in my case) grumpiness! Likely thanks to having three vaccinations, I’m sure, but still very unpleasant.
Update: Tested on Thursday the 28th July … and I’m COVID free!

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