Amaretto's activity

Oh guys, so sorry to hear what a rotten time you have had - Jimmy/Sebastiano must have been a nightmare to be off so long, do hope you didnt have guests to worry about too and Maninmarche when I just told Mr Am the story of you losing all your wood he turned pale green and said he felt sick. Dylano I think will be connected again finally this eve after friends called enel as they have done every day and enel realised finally they had been missed out and were heading there about 10pm. She is now currently in the Uk but her husband has been stuck in the dark here for almost a week - no phone, no internet no telly no lights, bloomin miserable. Unbelievably the enel guy had no idea how to find them and had to call to get directions - why do these guys not have satnavs - surely a €50 spend would save hours of wasted time and therefore much money too - grr makes me mad. I have the same issue with the fedex/spa delivery cos, they claim they cannot find us -  had a message on jan 6 that all my xmas presents were in an 'oven in via ricci' no village mentioned and took me a while to realise it was the bakers in monte san martino who had kindly taken in our parcels..If it was me doing that job I'd buy myself the bloomin gps - what is wrong with em, sigh, multo bizarro when life could be so much easier. Those gas generators sound well worth investigating, if anyone finds out more pls pass the info on  - we are currently investigating generators and small independent PV systems. Sympathies to all who have had tough times and hope no one else currently shivering in darkness. Am

A friend has called successfully and they say she is still in a fault zone and they are working on it so hope they will have her back on soon, rotten luck when neighbours are ok but thats they way it goes I guess, I wonder how they are faring higher up where the snow must be much deeper, quite odd to go down to Piane de Falerone and all is normal there if a little soggy. We have not heard from Sebastiano have we yet - hope they are ok, can't imagine him being anything but hugely competent in these situs.. Am

Dylano is still in the dark - all around her are reconnected so we are trying to get on to enel to find out how much longer - she seems to be on another branch of the wire from her neighbours. They are not the easiest of people to deal with by phone for a non native speaker lol - putting the phone down seems to be their modus when faced with someone who only speaks simple italian and when asked to talk slowly they invariably speed up. Or is it just us that has this prob with them?! Adriatica how much fuel does your generator use for a few hours leccy - presumably its diesel so do you keep a few gallons of that stashed away too? Snowing heavily here again now which was not forecast, hope we keep the power. We're looking at the cost of a small pv set up - just to get .5kw would be handy to fuel a laptop and a couple of lights.  Liking alan's idea too, much online research going on right now! Glad you and yours are ok Badger, sometimes lowtech stuff is worth its weight in gold. Roll on Spring..   Am

Thats terrible about the poor dogs. Just awful for so many to drown. Finally got power back this morning near Monte san Martino, poor Dylano near Gualdo is still without any or a phone line. We're fine, lost some trees completely and others are looking very sad - on wed night Mr Am was out at midnight shaking the new snow off our remaining ones to try to save them - it was such slushy heavy snow. We now value good led head torches very highly plus being able to keep warm with a woodburner we could also cook and heat water on - horrible to not being able to keep warm. So many mudslides and still loads of snow round here - more trouble to come as it melts no doubt and heartbreaking to see so many lovely olive trees smashed up. Still compared to those who lost lives down in the coastal area we thank our lucky stars. Thanks also to kind friends who let us recharge batteries and equip and have hot showers and hats off to the locals who got the rds open and driveable again so quickly. Have personally learned lots about what is important when the lights go out, thought we were prepared but will be more so in future - ikea tealights lovely on a dinner table but bloomin rubbish to actually see much by - big fat church candles and plenty of spare batteries are what you need. Hope others in the area all ok - has Badger clocked in? wondered if his geothermic heating was stuffed by the powercuts - hope he had lowtech back up like us in the form of a stufa..And Phil coseperlacasa - he's near the coast I think, hope ok there.. Am

I agree with Badger - if you can take time out, do it yourself. Are your windows possibly renovate-able? How old are they - ours we think were put in about 30 years ago and have taken a hard battering from hot summers and cold winters, we have managed to save them by stripping, sanding, feeding with liquid wax and then two or three coats of varnish and they look like new. It does take time but with 35 windows, most of them doubling opening and 9 sets of french doors the price of replacement with new ones was too awful to contemplate. Plus there is an enormous satisfaction in doing it yourself to the standard that you want. Paint is expensive but white emulsion is not that pricy - its when you want to go for special mix stuff in unusual colours it does get quite painful. I'm shocked at an €8k price but did that include loads of re-rendering and/or replastering - whats on the walls at the moment? I'm sure you can get a better deal than that - in fact I'm sure you'll get offers from people on here. Where is your place? We're near Monte san Martino in the Sarnano/Amandola area - more than happy to share any knowledge we have gleaned.  Your first really useful Italian lesson may well be 'at the Ferramenta' - a digital camera pic and a screwfix catalogue is often worth a thousand words and the guys who work in the small places that are aladdin's caves of equipment and chemicals are often hugely knowledgable and happy to advise. Welcome to Marche, we love it here. Am  

Hi again You can check a lot of prices for washing machines etc UK vs It by looking online at sites like euronics.it, the ebay.it classico site is always worth a surf too to compare prices with Uk cos like comet or currys, just as I said if it goes wrong and you bought it in the uk the guarantee is a bit useless. Shower doors here vs UK also worth comparing on ebay it vs UK - search for doccia porta. The Fallimenti place is at this address

Via Cristoforo Colombo 37 62029 TOLENTINO (MC)Italia

tel: 0733966887 Its on an industrial estate just off the ss78 - google maps will be your friend. Its a funny place - will try to attach a couple of pix of our trip there - hmm can't see how I do that but found this link on someone I do not know's blog - http://messageinabottiglia.blogspot.com/2008/06/day-at-fallimenti-tolent... Theres a big open air part just off the rd for tiles, lavs and some hilariously grand statues, fireplaces etc and on the road itself is a big indoor place that sells all sorts of furniture - not been in as it only opens in the afternoon after 4pm and we were there in the morning but it looks worth a look around for different stuff if you want to minimise ikea purchases - ikea Ancona being the best alternative for economical furnishing if you like their stuff - useful in small doses only imho! Am

Hi re your q on freighting I asked Mr Amaretto and I think we may have got a great deal cos he had links through his old job with a freighting co who do not usually deal with the public - think we paid about £1700 for a load which was about 18 cubic metres. It was transferred to a Marche company in Ancona who got it to our place on a smaller lorry with a tail lift - essential if you need to offload a heavy case full of china, pictures in glass frames etc and something you have to pay extra for. Think we got commercial rates but prob worth getting quotes from these guys http://www.ital-logistics.com/about/ or these ones http://www.excess-baggage.com or if you have any friends who work in a business that does much import/export stuff see if they might be able to pull a favour with the freight cos they use - like so many things its often who ya know... Also worth noting that unless the freight co does the packing (v v expensive - unfeasible for us) they usually refuse to insure it, so have anything very precious with you and pack breakables very carefully - I used almost 200 metres of bubble wrap on our stuff - for a while anything in my eyeline that didnt move was wrapped in plastic before you could blink. You can buy good cardboard boxes cheap off ebay - top tip go for smaller ones esp if you bringing lots of books, big ones are too heavy to lift if only a 1/4 full of books. re wonderful drives to the shops perhaps we should have a gallery of views here, after being stuck in UK traffic on grey days the drive from here does indeed make me whoop and cheer with joy... Hope above is helpful.. Am

Hi welcome to Marche, where are you going to be? Its a wonderful part of Italy, after nearly a year here I still giggle at the scenery on my drive to the shops, its life enhancingly gorgeous, beats anywhere I lived in the UK for sure. Can't offer much advice re heating just prepare yourselves for scary gas and leccy bills compared to the uk and do get a wood burner you can cook on - such a waste the ones with useless curved tops. If you are after baths rather than showers they are deffo cheaper in Uk, prob because Italians prefer showers - I just brought 3 baths from bestbathrooms.com - they got them on one pallet and charged only £150 delivery to Marche - total price for three baths, one double ended fitted and two were quite fancy looking stand alone baths inc delivery was £800 - we looked around here and one place wanted 2000€ for a similar acrylic slipper bath, the double ended fitted one was about £160 in UK - here €290 so that was well worth doing. Tiles can be bought here reasonably - fantastic place near Tolentino we picked up great floor tiles for only 8€ a sqm and then they lent us (for only the price of the fuel) a big flat bed truck to bring em home, something you certainly wouldnt get from B&Q. The same place - think its called fallimenti sells ceramic shower trays, loos, bidets etc at good prices - between 50-70 euros for very acceptable ones. I am currently researching shower doors - think slightly cheaper in Uk but not worth importing for me due to transport costs. Paint in interesting colours is expensive - just paid €80 for 5L of a satin finish for external wood. No tax to pay importing from Uk - all eu innit - just you may need to avoid coming with it all via switzerland but sure others can advise. We had all our stuff freighted here in two big containers and it arrived a few days after we did. It was definitely cheaper than hiring vans and doing it ourselves but there are others on here who may be able to do better deals who I am sure will come forward - I have heard good reports about Phil who is coseperlacasa on here I think. Hope thats helpful - generally the UK does seem to be cheaper - I have just bought Italian coffee machines off amazon uk cos they are cheaper there than here which is mad to me but thats the way it is. Just remember if machines go wrong its a lot easier to get guarantees honoured it you bought em here..   Am

You have also been fantastic friends to many people who have arrived since you two, thanks A&R for your introductions and advice, hope the next 5 years are even happier.. Am x

Thanks for this tip - seems its not just that ferry - I have just booked returns in april over the easter hols for car and two passsengers for £60 on other P&O boats, eurotunnel wanted £130 for the same times. Cheapest on other carriers was £80. Am