Preparations for the New Year

This morning we went to look once more at our new house. We’re buying a two-floor apartment in a small village a little way outside Ventimiglia and needed to do some final checks on the central heating before signing the compromesso on Monday and parting with a substantial deposit. We’d been a little concerned that the roof terrace wouldn’t receive any sun for most of the winter months, but even just one week after the shortest day there was a shaft of sunlight in the far corner, albeit for only an hour or two. The heating system appeared to work and we have a mortgage approval, so now there’s nothing holding up the purchase.

Christmas came and went. We bought a six-pound turkey, which proved adequate for our needs, even with a guest for Christmas dinner itself. It’s a relief not to be eating up turkey meat for weeks after the event. Our guest turned up with a filthy cold and worked his way through an entire bottle of single malt whisky during the afternoon and evening. We’re still waiting to see if the bug will get us too; every sniffle or sneeze is immediately suspect.

And most of our time this week has been employed gainfully in building The Riviera Woman and equipping it with all the cool features you can see with a little exploration. I’d be most grateful to anyone reading this who has time to try out some of the site features and can report how they got on.