AUGUST HOLIDAYS

As I wrote previously, august means vacation, and if one day of the month symbolizes this, it's August 15th, called ferragosto. The word ferragosto is a contraction of two words: ferie, meaning holidays or vacation, and agosto, meaning August. For those not fortunate enough to be able to take the entire month of August off, ferragosto may signal either the beginning of a two week break, or the end of a two week break. For the really unfortunate, ferragosto might just mean a long weekend break, especially when it falls like it does this year, on a Friday.

As anyone who lives in Italy knows, services are dicey during the entire month, and this particular week even more so. On Sunday, when our water softener started making a clicking sound and refused to cycle, I was really worried. Our water here in San Venanzo is very hard, and when we visit friends without soft water I can really tell the difference.

We unplugged the water softener, pushed a few buttons and hoped that the problem would correct itself, but of course it didn't. We weren't even sure there would be anyone in the office of the technico, the technician who works on the water softener. Art called on Monday and yes, they were there! He told them the problem and the woman in the office said she'd have someone call us. We figured that meant sometime next month, and I was on the verge of calling Fabio, our plumber here in San Venanzo. I knew he was still here because we'd seen him at the festa in Rotecastello.

And then, amazingly, the phone rang on Tuesday afternoon. It was the same woman Art had spoken to, and she asked if it would be okay if the technico came on Wednesday morning between 8:30 and nine. Certamente! Certainly! What a shock!

On Wednesday morning, just as promised, the technico arrived, looked at the water softener, then told Art he'd have to take it back to the shop to repair it. Unfortunately I'd just filled it with salt, and Art offered to scoop some of it out to make it a little lighter, but the technico said no, it was fine. He disconnected the water lines, drained the water into a bucket (which he promptly knocked over!), then left with the water softener. He said he'd return one day next week, so our fingers are crossed. My skin is already feeling dry. Time to grab some lotion.