Plan C

The following nicely sums up the frustrations of planning things in this country.

A childhood friend of Gigi's, Claudio, moved to Pordenone in the north of Italy to live with his girlfriend Belinda and work. Claudio called to invite us up for New Years as his cousin, Carlo, was driving up. The plan was to drive up on the 30th, spend New Years in nearby Venice and drive back to Naples on 2nd January. After a couple of days deliberating Gigi called Carlo to tell him we'd love to hitch a ride and share the petrol costs...only to find out that he and his wife have just booked Eurostar train tickets to Venice. The cost of a return train ticket, booked at this late stage, rules us out of that. Cancel Plan A.

Then Gigi's colleague Marcia generously invited us to stay at her 'farm' shack, somewhere out of Naples in behind the Amalfi Coast. So, having confirmed that we could borrow the car, he called back the next day only to find out that she's just had some work done and because she didn't know we wanted to go up the work is still in progress...and the toilet is not working. Cancel Plan B.

Plan C...to stay at a rough and ready farm stay recommended by Marcia in the same area. Of course now we can't get through on the number that she's provided. It would be nice if this plan came to fruition as Gigi and I often spend New Years somewhere quiet, romantic, away from the city.

The back up plan is to spend New Years Eve down in the huge square in front of the royal palace and celebrate with a free concert amongst the thousands of other locals and tourists that venture out on what is always a wild night of amateur fireworks and people throwing furniture out of the apartments as a sign of 'out with the old, in with the new' to beckon the new year.

I'll let you know how things go...