Fai Da Te

We decided to have a go at a spot of Fai Da Te (DIY) today which involved attacking the render on the outside of our house. The builder had previously told us that the stonework wouldn't be good enough to expose but we decided his idea of rustic stonework and ours weren't necessarily the same! We didn't do a great deal and decided to stick to the bottom section of the wall for the time being but it looks like it will clean up OK and be fine when it's been pointed.

Whilst up at the house we also met our neighbour! He chugged past on his tractor with his two dogs so we attempted to introduce ourselves. Our Italian is very poor but our Piemontese is none existent so the conversation was stilted to say the least. We did manage to understand that he was just popping down the hill in his tractor and when he returned would we like to go for a coffee, difficult to refuse really! Half an hour later his tractor chugged back past the house and he waved for us to follow him. His wife also spoke no English and we clearly spoke no Piemontese and only basic Italian but the coffee was very nice, we saw photos of all the family and we gleaned that he was 85, had a dodgy leg and had fought in the war, the rest of the conversation was unfortunately lost on us! I think we need a crash course in Piemontese before we see them again!