Capua. Mid-July. It's late afternoon and its raining heavily. (Yes!)
I'm sitting in my local cafe enjoying a raspberry ice-cream with my husband.. The skies had quickly darkened and soon the rain was coming in through the open window. Having brought no coat- and not being in a great hurry- I close the window and order a cappuccino.
Covid-19 certainly has a lot to answer for! for me in Capua, Italy it was merely 53 days without my mocha; whilst for my friend in Doncaster, Uk it was 4 days on a ventilator.. What a year! 2020 will certainly be one we'll never forget! Let's hope there's finally clear skies ahead for all of us!
Indeed it seems that way! House prices in the Uk are already 7% above their pre-Covid levels. As Samuel Pepys found out in 1665 an epidemic is not bad news for everyone. The survivors have renewed vigour and determination to enjoy all life has to offer.
' The show must go on!' as Freddie Mercury reminded me in a fantastic 'Bohemian Fantasy' concert last night in the Teatro Romano in Benevento. Benevento is about one hour's drive from Capua; much of it through vine-covered countryside.
The vintages- such as Aglianico and Tarausi- are so widely enjoyed throughout Italy that you rarely taste them elsewhere. And that is a great pity! Judging from the quantity of vines under production, there's sure to be a bumper harvest this year.
Indeed this July the grapes in our own garden in Giano are also looking good.
These are preceded by a bumper harvest of oranges, lemons and tangerines in January. Four batches of marmalade and several bottles of lemoncello are surely enough to testify to a successful harvest in 2020. Watering the garden today under clear skies, I note hopeful signs of a repeat performance in 2021!
Safe to say then that our fruit harvest is assured. So what of our second harvest, our home itself?This harvest has been more difficult to realise and is still not complete. Clearly it is more dependent on manpower than solar power. Having said this, for me the highlight of our renovations came early one bright Spring morning when the new dampcourse was laid. Liberated from wet earth, the foundations of our home could absorb the sun's energy once again.
For our third and final harvest this summer there has been the longest wait. Solar fruit, unlike, citrus fruit, is more subject to human delay. Our 18 solar panels have been in place since January, but to quote the Beatles, they've 'had a long cold lonely winter'. And Spring for that matter. Finally, today, September 17th, they're on. Their long winter of discontent can at last be made glorious by the summer sun. We can start juicing it in and harvesting some profits!
Mercifully the Mediterranean summer is not over. Indeed the barbacue season is in full swing (recently enjoyed a fantastic one near Salerno). Lucifero's chared meatballs of 2017 could yet become 2020's manna from Heaven. Indeed at 32 degrees, it's still devilishly hot!
Harvests indeed are a risky business. Even the great Egyptian pharaoh needed some help predicting his. Who could have foressen Covid-19 coming up from the Yangtze stopping all work projects? Not to mention all the other manmade issues.
