Cherries and Andy White

Just a brief update on what we’ve been up to last few days. I had forgotten to mention that while Frank and I were churning the earth Susan was planting out celery and cucumbers. The weather has continued to be unsettled apart from that one all sunny day. It’s not raining that much, but a shower never seems far away.

Which is why last night, after a farewell meal with Susan’s brother who returned home to Leeds today, we opted for the indoor concert that was on last night. There was the International Guitar Meeting was on in the Citadel in Sarzana, but given the unpredictable weather we went to see Andy White in the Pegaso in Arcola. We had been in Arcola earlier that day to prune a large and quite ill cherry tree back, cutting out many of the dead branches and some of the living ones too as this was the only way to get to the highest sweet cherries. Susan got quite worried about me dangling 20 feet in the air with a telescopic pruning tool, but a large yield of delicious cherries made it worth our while. Some of them we preserved in grappa and with the rest of them we have just been eating ourselves sick!

Andy White, this is the third time we have seen him live at Pegaso, it’s one of his regular haunts. He is a Belfast singer/songwriter who now resides in Australia. However he likes Arcola so much that he bought a house there together with his parents. Given that the lyrics to his songs are important it is surprising he is so popular in Italy. We spoke to a woman called Lara during the concert and whilst she spoke some English she admitted to not being able follow a word from the songs, whilst Susan laughed out loud to some of the lyrics. His songs are intelligent and often humorous and are very Belfast or Ireland in their stories. He sings about “Religious Persuasion”, Sam Beckett, George Best, James Joyce, the 12th July and “Italian Girls on Mopeds” amongst other things. As usual, an enjoyable evening, not least because they serve Guinness at Pegaso! Check him out at www.andywhite.com. Tomorrow our rain gods James and Alison are arriving back in Italy for a few days, so no doubt it will continue to rain…

Incidentally, as I write this I sip some of our elderflower Prosecco. It’s delicious!