Cold again

The weather turned cold as the wind swung NE again. We now have a complete ban on burning as clear dry high pressure weather expected to dominate for a while. There has been a worrying lack of winter rains this year.

Planted the rest of the potatoes - 20kgs in all. The ground is still cold but I want them growing as soon as possible this year. There is a local variety grown in the village of Cetica three hundred metres higher than us. I bought some eating potatoes of this variety in the summer and will try planting them.

A couple of interesting developments of which more later.

The figure for deaths in Italy is still pretty staggering. Over 800 again today. We joined in a national minute of silence to honour the dead on our balcony.  But the curve is beginning to relent and will hopefully flatten soon. 

The mountain is Mt Falterona. The river Arno starts high up in the valleys you can see on its slopes. One day we will walk there.