Today was to be tomato day and I for one was up at the crack of sparrows ready to do my bit. The weather however had also decided to do it’s bit as well and by 7 a.m. the wind started to gust at 55 kph by 8 a.m. it was at 65 kph and things were looking dicey.
The passata making operation with our Italian family is run on traditional lines. A fire is lit in a circle of stones outside and the huge pots of toms are cooked on the hot wood embers which I am told is the purists way to do it. When you are a purist you of course believe that the passata tastes different and so you stick to the old ways. An open fire with 60 kph winds doesn’t go with a parched field and nearby woodland of course So at 8.10 play for the day was called off without a single tomato being bowled and we players retreated back into the pavilion to decide what to do with our new spare time.
One thing we had to do was stand down the bottles that had been readied for the event. Hoping for a good days play basil had already been put into the first batch and so that needed to be taken out
This is just the first batch we shall make. The table with the same amount of bottles will be re-stacked about 3 times. There’s an awful lot of passata in Puglia. The Italian males left within minutes for the bar and their caffe corretto or beer. Most guys that work with their hands seem to start the day with a corretto which is an expresso with a shot of Sambuca in it. I declined still finding any alcohol at 8 in the morning somehow socially unacceptable which is very English of me I know. So I went home for a nice cup of tea !
We instead of playing cards all day went to the beach to find, not surprisingly, that the wind which up here has been blowing since Tuesday was doing the same down there.
What we weren’t ready for was that Torre Canne beach had all but disappeared. We should have guessed by the lack of cars at the lido and the fact that the guy on the gate gave us a discount in August an unheard of event. We knew why when we tried to get on the beach and found no sand just rocks and seas.
This was Torre Canne beach in July last year
It was taken on quite a windy day and in fact there had already been some erosion of sand that year and during the previous winter. The sand dunes on the right are UNESCO sites.
This was today standing in the same spot to photograph
The rocks you see in the foreground are uncovered lava and it means no swimmer can enter the water without shoes for almost the entire length of the beach . I walked to the white house in the distance and got into the sea down there to swim with no rocks. Our lido owner looked suitably dejected sitting in his normally full bar in August talking to his 8 staff who would normally be serving queues of punters all ordering plate loads of seafood and pasta . Instead just 2 people munched on panini .
Maybe he said the wind will change and bring back the sand. Yes maybe but maybe his two competitors with lidi by that white house in the distance are going to have an August they could only have dreamt about as Milanese don’t do walking for swims. They want a beach chair, an umbrella and the sea within about 20 paces of their car door and to hell with the cost. We shall stay with our man and be almost alone like the Corona ad
Yes and Geraldine does far worse to me when I do that too !
In Puglia and Places 