The ongoing saga of my arm

It's vendemmia time, the grape harvest. The air everywhere is pregnant with the smell of fermenting wine. With the hot and dry summer and spring the grapes have ripened early this year. Some growers picked before the arrival of last weeks rain, others, like our friends Graham and Anna of Il Bardine in Cesarano in the Lunigiana have used the warm period after the rains. We went out on Tuesday to give them a hand harvesting their 1/2 hectar or so of Vermentino and a mixture of red varieties. The whites already showed sign of botrytis and a drop in acidity, but the red grapes came in nice and healthy. Here is Susan in action.

There were a whole group of us and became hot during the day. It took us most of the day to pick and we finished off with a jolly BBQ. If you ever fancy staying on a vineyard / fruit orchard for your holidays, Graham and Anna let out a couple of flats: www.ilbardine.com.

This was the first major physical test for my arm after my injury. However in the morning before I started I found a strange and slightly painful hard lump on the opposite side of where I skewered my arm some 5 weeks ago. And shortly before the end of our work I had to capitulate again. Thursday I went to see my doctor about it and it turns out that I still have a piece of bamboo inside my arm which is now trying to get out on the other side!

Next Friday I will be operated on that arm in Sarzana hospital to have it removed, which no doubt is going to result in me being out of action for a further couple of weeks. Porca miseria!Susan has been in Belfast this week, so I've been keeping myself busy not straining my arm too much.