under another sun

Lorraine and I celebrated six years of being wed today. A slow start with cards and breakfast in bed, and as the day was rainy and uninviting, we lurked at home. Beth off to London for a party today. Lorraine and I even playing the Sherlock Holmes game. Then we walked in the rain down to Mediterraneo for a romantic Sicilian meal for two. The food there is gorgeous, and we shared a bottle of wine that was as lovely as the stuff we were lapping up on Sicily with Toby and Romy. A judicious cab home that took us round Sark to get to Home, but at least we were dry. A lovely time, and back in time for Match of the Day.

Barely heard Toby and Romy creeping off this morning at an eye-watering 4AM. I had a nightmare about a brother that disappeared, and woke up in a strangely Toby and Romy-less place. The rest of us got up early, finished packing, and all had a last dip in the incomparable pool. Tina arrived at around 9:45 as we were zooming around. I was ironing one of Lorraine's tops, and she took it from me and finished it. We all really liked Tina. Then final things squeezed into the car, and we set off for a last mooch about in Noto, where we had granita breakfasts, and looked at a few places. Another swelteringly hot day. As we were making our way back to the car to drive up to the airport, Lorraine got a message from EasyJet saying our flight had been cancelled until tomorrow. This all a bit horrible, and under some stress we managed to book a room in a hotel in Catania urgently for tonight using our phones. Trying to get everything else sorted was hard, and Beth and John were great at mak...

Another beautiful day. No surging up to get on with things this morning, although Beth and John were up early basking by the pool. Huge amounts of food to be eaten at lunchtime, not eaten from the day before. Beautiful food. Simply spent the day hanging around chatting. So nice to talk to Romy at length again, having not seen her for ages before this holiday. In the afternoon Toby, Romy and John popped into Noto. I had a deep sleep in the afternoon, followed by a swim and a bob in the pool with Lorraine and Betty. Lorraine finished the second Montalbano book, and I started the Leopard by Lampedusa. I was offered some work for a couple of weeks starting next Monday in London, which I gladly accepted too. Seems that what I need to do to boost my writing career and freelance is go away on more holidays. We were here for Tina too, and were theatrically treated to ravioli of utter brilliance, a meaty stew of pork and sausages cooked with fennel in a rich tomato sauce, served with sala...

Off today to Siracusa, all piled into cars. Toby and Romy left sensibly early. Lorraine, navigated by me and google, got lost a few times in the harbour town. Eventually we found the car park, and threaded through the mazy lanes to the Doric Temple of Apollo, where we met Toby and Romy, and Agata our guide for the morning. She was an amazing Sicilian polyglot who spoke a list of languages, and was now acquiring Japanese for fun. She talked fondly of London, and the magic of going for a job interview in the snow. Later, she lived in Norway for a couple of years, drawn there by love. She outlined the amazing historical richness of the town, a story with Ancient Greek origins epitomised by the ruin we stood beside, through Romans, and taking in arabs and Normans and the Spanish and others. She led us into a food market, the stalls piled with fruits and vegetables, spices and herbs, and fish stalls too. I noticed some had longnose, or garfish on slabs, as well as enormous swordfish. She ...

Off to Scicli, in Toby's car. Driving across a mostly farmed landscape of stone walled sunbaked fields. On the roads everyone drove at more than twice the speed limit, and tailgating each other as standard. A place where people drive as if they had just robbed a bank. Through a couple of small towns before we reached the outskirts of Scicli descending in hairpin bends down into the city. Then the task of driving around in the narrow streets until we were able to find a parking place. Then we mooched about the place, another baroque town, thanks to the giant earthquake. It is also famous for some of the Montalbano TV show being filmed here, including the steps into a building with doubles as the police office. We paused to have coffee and then went somewhere else for gelato.  From there we caught the baroque train, a wee little train that drove around the town. This did not reveal too much we'd not already seen, however it was great fun. The driver explained that we shou...

Toby and Romy off to the sea late this afternoon. Lorraine and I stayed happily bobbing in the pool. We'd all spent the day eating the leftovers from yesterday's feast, reading and swimming. At one point too, I stole down the track and picked a lemon off a tree where several had fallen, and later on Romy cut it into our sundown gin and tonic. Another utter feast made by Tina tonight. Mortadella and various cheeses and homemade jams and honey from their own hives with bread to start, and then pork loin cooked in marsala wine, with potatoes with parsley and an arab inflected crunchy sweet and sour dish of roasted red peppers, breadcrumbs and capers, with sugar and vinegar, which Romy pointed out was almost like a chutney for the pork. Then turning the light on outside, we watched the theatre of geckoes, as one big bruiser with a regrowing tail, sat near the light and snacked on various insects drawn in by the light. At one point Toby and I sat by the pool looking up at the st...

The alarm on Lorraine's phone got us up early this morning, and Lorraine volunteered to drive us to meet our guide for the guided tour of ancient and modern Noto. We were to meet him in Noto Antica, the remains of a hilltop walled town destroyed by devastating earthquake in 1693. Getting there proved an adventure, particularly for Lorraine. Guided by google, we were taken down a road that became narrower, and when we began driving across shallow rivers flowing across the road, alarm bells began to ring. We began climbing up the mountain in our little hired Renault Clio, on untracked roads of white rubble, some of which, to Lorraine's horror, had sheer drops on one side. At one point, as the track ahead proved almost impassable, we stopped. Romy ran off and found two women ahead, and discovered the road improved a little. With just Lorraine in the car, we got over the bad patch, and then progressed up to the top of the hill. We had reached the ancient ruined town by the donkey r...

A Monday to dream about. Up gradually having slept really well. Breakfast and then a day of lounging reading books, swimming in the pool and chatting, and gradually wandering around the grounds, which flick with lizards. I'm reading a book by Yoko Ogawa, which is excellent blend of the literary in the style of Murakami, with a nice dash of horror. At tea time I sat in one of two chairs looking across the olive groves, and lemon trees and others, and Romy brought me out a glass of gin and tonic and we sat looking down on the land, which at that time of the day gets golden green and resembles a renaissance Italian painting. Utterly gorgeous. By prearrangement Tina arrived. She is a Sicilian who lived in Toronto as a child, she said she moved back here when she got married, thinking it was safer to bring up children here. I wondered why bringing children up in the birthplace of the Mafia was safer than Toronto, but did not ask. With a helper, she prepared us an amazing dinner. T...

Up at ten past three after a despicable night's sleep, and L and stumbled around getting dressed. Out into the heavy rain in Zombie mode and drove off to Gatwick airport's summer special car park. L handed over the key to the car, and correcting the number of our numberplate for their records. Then to the Easy Jet check in, mostly automated. We got to the automated check-in, and the computer said no. Wranging a check in staff member, who allowed us to check in, but said the aircraft that had been supplied was smaller than the original one, and there were too many passengers.This led to hellish scenes standing in queues for hours not sure if we would be able to fly, and then sitting on the plane for hours while they finally got the chosen ones on board, and took all the luggage out of the plane and sorted through it for the bits belonging to the losers. Lorraine and I were not sat next to one another either, and both in middles of rows. Flight a bit choppy but not too bad. I h...