"Rest" day...

Playlist
Various – Shuffleplay
Various Composers – Adagio Box Set

Decided this morning to switch to Shuffleplay on the jukebox and so “Radio Dave” is back on air – it puts the music into different contexts and removes expectation from the listening experience...

In the first hour I heard tracks by Gordian Knot, Bryan Adams, Pink Floyd, String Cheese Incident, Strawbs, Craig Armstrong, Miles Davis, ELP, The Beatles, Herman Van Veen and The Bad Plus...

Of those, I’m pretty sure I’d never heard the Bryan Adams, String Cheese Incident or Strawbs tracks before...

Of course, no doubt at some point I’ll revert to listening to selected albums again...

I woke at 3am today as sleep eluded me again – I have a recurrence too of the virus which was dogging me towards the end of last month and, as ever, the ankle is giving me gyp...

But I’m on holiday so not to worry – and today has been officially dubbed a “rest day” and we will not be driving down the mountain...

At 3 I switched on the jukebox and promptly fell asleep, awaking again just after 6 at which point I got up and flicked through the rubbish cable channels on the TV before falling asleep again on the sofa...

Woke at an amazing 9:45...

Breakfast was rubbish today as the extra rolls we’d bought yesterday had hardened and were almost inedible...

After breakfast we went out into the garden and sat in the garden, Anne in the sun reading, me in the shade writing notes for this...

A wee cat came to join us...



At midday we listened to the bells of the various churches around the valleys and mountains ringing out their tunes...

In the afternoon, we drove over to the Pian del Tivano, where we’d been last night for the slap up meal and where, today, they were holding the “Festival of the Mountains”..

Some nice animals were in attendance including horses, cows, goats and donkeys but it was all a wee bit strange for us. Anne reckoned next time some spoiled city kid moans of being bored cos there’s nothing to do, they should be made to attend “Festival of the Mountains” and they’d never moan again...



We went back home and I relaxed indoors with all windows wide – it was roasting by now – while Anne sat out on the balcony reading – she did a lot of reading on this holiday...



Whilst we relaxed, motorbikes roared up and down the mountain roads and the noise of their engines resounded rather annoyingly across the landscape...

Before cooking our evening meal, we went back to the garden, as the wee cat had returned...

In the evening we drove in the dark down the mountain and north up the lake shore to Bellagio for a concert by the No.Ve String Quartet, featuring four players from the nearby Lecco Chamber Orchestra...

Arriving early and getting a parking spot right by the church, we walked down to the town and had a coffee in the Florence Bar – the best latte machiato I tasted during our stay...

We went back to the church around 9 and it was almost full already. The quartet excelled themselves, playing for just over an hour and featuring pieces by the Italian composers Puccini, Bazzini and Donizetti...



At 10:30 we drove home and finished off the day with a couple of glasses of wine...

Highlight of the Day : Excellent String Quartet performance