Holding your breath - and balls of steel

The crazy pile of rocks starts to take shape

In just a few days, it will be exactly 10 years since we left Australia and landed in London for what was to be a three year posting - but which ended up turning us into emigrants (and me, into a soon-to-be, post-Brexit, lost my Aussie residency, Italo-Pom.)

It was a huge jump for us and sometimes, over a beer or three, we muse about how the hell we ever found the courage to jump ship, leave the security of two, salaried newspaper jobs, change countries, leave families, friends, children to follow the drive to keep writing and try to reinvent ourselves in Europe.

As a laugh over the years - and to counter the late-night fears, insecurity and insomnia - Robert and I would recite the mantra "steel balls, we must have balls of steel" and to this day, it's code between us when something scary looms on the horizon.

(In fact, for his birthday a couple of years ago, I made Robert an artwork in which I embedded a little, vintage box of stainless steel ball bearings into a collection of small birds's eggs to signify home and security etc etc. Here is a snap of it, below).

Okay, so why the talk about cojones, balls of steel? Because right now we really need them.
All has been going well in Puglia, so well that my superstitious nature started to worry we were courting fate, counting chickens etc etc.

While the construction is going splendidly, the external walls are secured and ready for lime wash, the lamia and trulli bodies have water pipes and electricity installed, the cistern is fully restored and functional and we have managed some tweaks to tiny spaces to maximise nooks and crannies - and all in all, it is a joy to watch its renaissance - the Italian bureaucracy has struck.
And in the place we least expected it.

We embarked on our project solely because we knew that all architectural studies, plans and building permissions were ready and in place. This minimised risk - and cost overruns.
This week however, we learned that new regulations (apparently coming in on March 31 so why they can be applied retrospectively is beyond me) require all new structures to be tested for anti-seismic capacities.
Right now, we are in the dark about exactly what this means, when and how this engineering testing can be done except that apparently, they want quality analysis of stone, steel and lime mortar used in the new build. Nothing is impossible right? But for now, all I can see is $$$$$$ €€€€€€ £££££ heading down river.

We have a wonderful builder and project manager there but they too are struggling with this one and what it entails.....so for now, we hold our breath.

Meanwhile, here are a few pictures from our site visit last week. There is so much progress, our hearts sang as we walked the permiter and climbed onto the roof of the lamia to look over the lovely terraces of land and drystone walls we will also eventually bring back to fruition. We drank in the views and breathed the blue horizon.

Yep, we always knew this was going to be ahem, an adventure/risk.
Still, I'd love it if you cross your fingers and join us in a chorus of 'steel balls, we MUST have steel balls"!

The crazy stone steps up to the roof of the lamia aka my aperitivo terrace

Our amazing stone mason, Giacinto, who has returned after many years working in France to live in his native Puglia thanks to the trullo renaissance

Looking out to sea