This was to be my final post on the blasted subject of my wooden arm, but alas... My experience with the Italian health system up to this point has been very good really. I have never before had an operation in any country before, so maybe it's just the way it is done.

The last time I went in for these tests, I thought this was it. They gave me a whole pile of paper about possible risks, both of the anasthetic and and operation in general. There were pages of stuff about not drinking any alcohol the day before, not eating 12 hours before and not drinking (even water) up to 8 hours before. And they gave me an appointment with the amnesty... amnesi.. anneath... the person who makes your arm go numb for noon today (punctually). Ok fair enough, they didn't mention the op as such, but what else do you do at an anaesthi... anseetha... you know what I mean. They'll hardly give you an injection a week before the op, it'll wear off sure!

Well I turned up, with Susan in tow in case I wouldn't be able to drive myself home with a limp arm. The a... the lady was very friendly, asked a few questions, like what was my normal blood pressure. I said I had no idea. So she measured it and told me it was perfect. She listened to my heart and chest and found I was still alive. Finally she made me sign yet another form (god knows what all I have been signing there? I'll expect delivery of the series of encyclopaedias any day now!) and told me she'd put the injection into the top of my arm, near the axle (achsle? my spelling is gone today...).

With that she dismissed me. I looked at her slightly incredulously (this post has a lot of long words doesn't it?) and asked if she hadn't forgotten anything, like giving me that threatened injection. "Oh no," she says, "we'll give you that before the operation." - "And that's not today?" - "No, we'll ring you." - "Ahh, any idea when?" - "oh any time in the next week / ten days."

Right, so what do you do with a day you had been expecting to spend on an operating table? Well eat for a start, I've been keeping to all that fasting they told me to do! But the weather was also glorious today. Just a couple of days ago the view from our terrace looked like this.




We went to work on the land anyway, because the weather forecast was for no rain and it looked as if it might clear up. Of course we had a right downpour and I planted some onions, Cavolo Nero (Tuscan 'black cabbage', it's a bit like curly kale) and white cabbages in the mud.

The next day and today the view turned out like this though. Although not apparent on the photo, behind that bit of sea on the very left we had one of those few days in a year when we could see Corsica (some 100 miles, 150 km away).

So with weather like this we went out chestnut picking again. They looked a lot better than the last lot we had. Whilst out this nosey donkey came to investigate what we were up to and hollered a belching Eeeeeeeeeeeh Haaawww at us.