Fine La Settimana

Fine di Settimana

The weekend begins with Friday here. Some businesses are closed and others close for lunch and don’t re-open.. Any business needs to be done in the morning. So I head back to Corciano to return the faucet I bought by mistake, having forgotten I had already purchased one.

Some of the small Italian towns – called paese, I was told last night by Massimiliano – have the most curious names. Madonna shows up a lot, in various guises….my favorite is Madonna di Mezzestrada, Madonna in the Middle of the Street, or Middle of the Road, or Half Road, I ‘m not sure which. Many of the names sound almost identical….Marsciano, Marschiano, Ponte Naia, Ponte Nuova, Ponte Rio, Colvlaenza, Collevalenza. And some of the names are so lyrical you almost have to sing them – Montecastello di Vibio, for instance, which very appropriately, has a tiny theater that stages musical concerts throughout the year.

But this morning I am in Perugia and passing the Cavallo in Ferro (Iron Horse) exit towards Brico. I successfully return the faucet and receive a cash refund, very proud that I completed this transaction without help. On the way back I am about to enter a traffic circle when the car behind me hits the back of my car. Apparently I am about to have the Italian car accident experience and I already count myself fortunate that it’s such a mild one. Given the way Italians drive it’s remarkable that there are not more accidents or worse ones more frequently.

I retrieve the rental car documents from the glove compartment in order to find an emergency number. The other driver concedes that the fault was his and examines my car with great relief, remarking that the dent is so slight. He is clearly worried and wondering if I am going to claim some personal injury. I assure him that the damage is not bad and that I am not hurt, but that it’s necessary to report the accident in any event. I am told that there is a form to fill out and although I’m not able to locate one in my car, Mr. Vencenzo conveniently has one on hand. I wonder how often this happens to him. We got through the process in a very civilized manner, each filling out our portion of the form. I do however, take a photo of his license plate just to be on the safe side. When we are done, he rips off a copy for me and shakes my hand, ascertaining once again that there is no personal injury, and noting that on the form. I am to give this to the rental car company when I return my car next week.

I am surprised by the ease and civility of the process. Of course , there was not a police car in sight (never there when you need them but often when you want to avoid them), and drivers all around us were honking horns and urging us to move further on to the curb. I return to my car and without missing much of a beat, head on towards Piedicolle for lunch.

At the moment I am enjoying a relaxing late afternoon on my new lounge chair and the new landscape view I have created by chopping away at some of the overgrowth at Le Caselle. It did occur to me while I was pruning that a local might think me savage for just chopping away at anything that blocked my view. I am a city girl, so I don’t know my weeds from my healthy plants and I have no idea what’s going to turn into a flower unless it’s already there. I know there’s a huge rosemary bush that’s out of control, so I snip it back, figuring that there’s only so much rosemary that one can use and in any case it will grown back in no time. I love the terrace, the only drawback being that I can see all too clearly how much work needs to be done in the garden. I would so much love to be looking at something further along in the process, but then I remember that I was in a car accident today and I am lucky to be here at all. So who am I to complain. All in good time.