Furniture Construction Trip >>> Day 3 (Saturday, 13 May 2006): Day 3 continued …
I apologize for the interruption in the publishing of my blog. When I started working on the apartment in Fano, I just jumped in and started working, and working, and working. To get done what I needed to get done I realized, early on, that I needed more time than I had planned. Timing in Italy is different. People and stores are just as responsive, it’s just that their schedules are different. The afternoon closure for what I call siesta (lunch really, but an extended lunch, with nap maybe?) screws me up … like needing some nuts and washers to put the umbrella together because some parts were missing from the hardware bag that all “put-it-together-yourself” items seem to have these days. I took a break and walked to the hardware store, only to find it closed. I just plain forgot. Not their problem, my lack of memory. I need to learn to work with their schedule better … I still tend to think and work on a US schedule.
Anyway, I had to prioritize what needed to be finished the most urgently, and furniture, appliances, and cleaning came before writing. But now, I’m back at it … although a bit delayed. Thanks for your understanding and patience.
I was all turned around with my days. Day 1 was Thursday; start of travel. Day 2 was Friday; arrival day without bags (“sensa bagagli”). Saturday was a work day, with the trip to the airport in Ancona/Falconara to recover my bags (as well as the key debacle). I had to go back and edit my last posting to reflect the proper day. It appears Friday was a blur of travel, no sleep, and time change. Not hard to imagine.
I neglected to mention in the last posting that the Internet service previously installed by FASTWEB, with the help for technician (“tecnico”) access to the apartment of my friend Enrico upstairs, worked like charm. Plug in, fire up, no worries. It worked flawlessly the entire week. Perfection!
Saturday was a beautiful day. I spent the first part of the day putting together the buffet for the living room/cooking corner combination room. The buffet has (9) nine drawers, which meant it took a long, long time to construct. The buffet is necessary because the cooking corner area is very small. Also because of the way our apartment is laid out, and because of the constraints presented by old Italian buildings made of concrete, stone, and block walls. Cabinet space in the kitchen unit (“la cucina”) is minimal, so a buffet for storing dishes, pots and pans, and everything and anything else imaginable, is a must.
I had to interrupt construction of the buffet to shoot back to the airport to pick up my bags, which was a breeze. I was lucky to get them as quickly as I did.
On the way back from the airport, I hit the local “big box store” area in the industrial zone just outside of Fano (“zona industriale”). At least the Italians are smart enough to put them in an area with all the other necessary eyesores (near manufacturing plants and warehouses), and not allow them to be dropped right into the middle of the community as we have in Dublin, Ohio. There, you will find a large hardware store, BRICO, which I would liken to a smaller version of our Home Depot stores (maybe one-quarter to one-sixth the size), a TRONY, which is like our Best Buy stores, an Auchan, which is like our Wal-Marts or Meijer stores, as well as a bunch of other higher-volume, lower price competitors covering product lines that range from food and beverages (including wines, beers, and liquors), to clothing, to furniture, to house wares. You can probably get anything you need at some store along this strip that’s maybe a kilometer or two long.
I picked up a TV (20” flat screen to mount on the wall or back of the buffet at some point, to preserve precious work space.), DVD player, CD/radio combination, wireless router, and ink jet printer/copier/scanner combination. All at prices comparable to the US.
I returned and after completing the buffet, which I needed to have in place to have somewhere to put the TV (for now), I unpacked all the electronics, got them wired and working, and then went back to furniture construction. I started on the kitchen table and chairs (6 of them). At 9 PM I took a break, showered, and went to dinner at a local seafood restaurant where I had an awesome meal of a pasta starter (“primi”) with prawns, and an entrée (“secondi”) of a local fish called coda di rospo (I understand in the US we would call it monkfish). It has a firm white flesh that holds up well when roasted (doesn’t get too soft or too dry). It was roasted, with vegetables. Fantastic. Topped off the eating part of the night with some gelato and a limoncello at a great gelato bar (the “Bon Bon Art Café”).
Afterwards, more furniture construction … until almost 5 AM Italy time (11 PM Ohio time, which is why I could do this without falling over from exhaustion). By this time I had finished the table and chairs. The table is a cassette-type table. Two big attached sections that fold down to save space, with a smaller middle section that is always open. The sets of legs rotate to support the two larger sections. You can use the table completely folded for two people. Partially unfolded for 4 or 5 people. Fully unfolded for 6 to 8 people (depending on how close you want family or friends to be at the table!). It’s one of the neat designs necessary for Italian (and other locations in the world where space is at a premium) living, to make as much use of space as possible. We’ll also use it folded as an island (peninsula) workspace when cooking.
As I slid into bed, I was pleased. I had gotten quite a bit accomplished. There was plenty more to do, but I felt I was about on schedule. I decided to not set the alarm and sleep in. I needed a good sleep after staying up until almost 5 AM.
Anyway, I had to prioritize what needed to be finished the most urgently, and furniture, appliances, and cleaning came before writing. But now, I’m back at it … although a bit delayed. Thanks for your understanding and patience.
I was all turned around with my days. Day 1 was Thursday; start of travel. Day 2 was Friday; arrival day without bags (“sensa bagagli”). Saturday was a work day, with the trip to the airport in Ancona/Falconara to recover my bags (as well as the key debacle). I had to go back and edit my last posting to reflect the proper day. It appears Friday was a blur of travel, no sleep, and time change. Not hard to imagine.
I neglected to mention in the last posting that the Internet service previously installed by FASTWEB, with the help for technician (“tecnico”) access to the apartment of my friend Enrico upstairs, worked like charm. Plug in, fire up, no worries. It worked flawlessly the entire week. Perfection!
Saturday was a beautiful day. I spent the first part of the day putting together the buffet for the living room/cooking corner combination room. The buffet has (9) nine drawers, which meant it took a long, long time to construct. The buffet is necessary because the cooking corner area is very small. Also because of the way our apartment is laid out, and because of the constraints presented by old Italian buildings made of concrete, stone, and block walls. Cabinet space in the kitchen unit (“la cucina”) is minimal, so a buffet for storing dishes, pots and pans, and everything and anything else imaginable, is a must.
I had to interrupt construction of the buffet to shoot back to the airport to pick up my bags, which was a breeze. I was lucky to get them as quickly as I did.
On the way back from the airport, I hit the local “big box store” area in the industrial zone just outside of Fano (“zona industriale”). At least the Italians are smart enough to put them in an area with all the other necessary eyesores (near manufacturing plants and warehouses), and not allow them to be dropped right into the middle of the community as we have in Dublin, Ohio. There, you will find a large hardware store, BRICO, which I would liken to a smaller version of our Home Depot stores (maybe one-quarter to one-sixth the size), a TRONY, which is like our Best Buy stores, an Auchan, which is like our Wal-Marts or Meijer stores, as well as a bunch of other higher-volume, lower price competitors covering product lines that range from food and beverages (including wines, beers, and liquors), to clothing, to furniture, to house wares. You can probably get anything you need at some store along this strip that’s maybe a kilometer or two long.
I picked up a TV (20” flat screen to mount on the wall or back of the buffet at some point, to preserve precious work space.), DVD player, CD/radio combination, wireless router, and ink jet printer/copier/scanner combination. All at prices comparable to the US.
I returned and after completing the buffet, which I needed to have in place to have somewhere to put the TV (for now), I unpacked all the electronics, got them wired and working, and then went back to furniture construction. I started on the kitchen table and chairs (6 of them). At 9 PM I took a break, showered, and went to dinner at a local seafood restaurant where I had an awesome meal of a pasta starter (“primi”) with prawns, and an entrée (“secondi”) of a local fish called coda di rospo (I understand in the US we would call it monkfish). It has a firm white flesh that holds up well when roasted (doesn’t get too soft or too dry). It was roasted, with vegetables. Fantastic. Topped off the eating part of the night with some gelato and a limoncello at a great gelato bar (the “Bon Bon Art Café”).
Afterwards, more furniture construction … until almost 5 AM Italy time (11 PM Ohio time, which is why I could do this without falling over from exhaustion). By this time I had finished the table and chairs. The table is a cassette-type table. Two big attached sections that fold down to save space, with a smaller middle section that is always open. The sets of legs rotate to support the two larger sections. You can use the table completely folded for two people. Partially unfolded for 4 or 5 people. Fully unfolded for 6 to 8 people (depending on how close you want family or friends to be at the table!). It’s one of the neat designs necessary for Italian (and other locations in the world where space is at a premium) living, to make as much use of space as possible. We’ll also use it folded as an island (peninsula) workspace when cooking.
As I slid into bed, I was pleased. I had gotten quite a bit accomplished. There was plenty more to do, but I felt I was about on schedule. I decided to not set the alarm and sleep in. I needed a good sleep after staying up until almost 5 AM.
posted by Mark Pukita | 9:49 AM
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