Last night England left my World Cup dream in shatters. When England scored and went 1-0 ahead they immediately retired into their shell, encouraged by their manager, Tuchel, who kept bringing on defenders. The result England 1 Argentine 2.
This morning Maggi had already started the preparation for our departure to Italy when I woke. Yesterday she had been very lethargic and had taken paracetamol to kill her headache. Today she had the energy of a 20 year old.
We completed all the necessary jobs and set off. On the first part our route we turned back twice, once to drop off the garbage and secondly to buy some after-bite ointment. Both jobs required us to retrace our route.
Finally on our way we had a simple journey to Imperia, in Italy where we charged up the Tesla, and the on to our accommodation.
The host awaited us and directed us up to the house. The villa has plenty of rooms and beds to accommodate all 12 of us. The pool has a diving board and stretches to about 15 m in length and the grounds are extensive.
Our German host wanted to tell us everything he could think of and I felt outstayed his welcome.
Our red faced jovial host had plenty to say and explain, which of course should have been written down in a book. If it was he didn’t point it out. He did however show us a number of things that didn’t work, like the door to the cupboard that hung off.
The place looks like a lot of money went into the design and build of the property in 1990 but nothing much has changed since then. Our bedroom has a large en-suite bathroom with shower and bath, plus a large range of wardrobes.
However the outside and the swimming pool are the best aspects of the place and the fact that the kids have a whole upstairs area for themselves.
Adam and Sarah arrived about 40 minutes after us with the kids. They all seemed to be in a good mood. Hugs all round, some more reluctant than others. Then came Alex etc and the better quality hugs. I don’t imply that the quality of hugs is a necessary reflection of the depth of affection.
We all soon used the pool. I tried to teach the boys how to dive even though I’m pretty poor myself. The evening meal passed off very smoothly with Sarah making a big contribution. Somehow Maggi seemed to disappear during the preparation which is extremely unusual for her.
More swimming and messing around in the water after dinner. Sitting about on the evening maybe a time to catch up and chat to our children and grand-children. Greg has had found his perfect job , marketing Stripe payment system to the sports world. Tomorrow he flies back to Liverpool to pop-in on the British Open Championship. He’ll be back on Sunday.
When we came to bed Maggi found her damp costume on the floor and asked who had messed around with it. I pointed out to her that she had worn it when she swam earlier. She had no recollection of swimming and a couple of other events yesterday evening. This makes me a little worried. The only reason maybe that she had a little too much to drink earlier. Let’s hope it doesn’t happen again.