Counting the days

Five days and counting: the road trip from London to Puglia in a van with the husband and the dog begins on Sunday at 11am when we board the train at Folkestone to travel the Eurotunnel and begin our journey in Calais, France.

We plan to take three days and two nights to travel the 1,967 kilometres down through France, crossing into Liechtenstein, stopping in Basel, Switzerland on the first night at a dog friendly hotel then on, pushing down the Adriatic coast of Italy and sleeping in another pet friendly motel on the outskirts of Bologna before heading into Puglia and Trullo Stella e Mare. Our little pocket of Puglia Paradise is equidistant between the cities of Bari and Brindisi (actually, it is perfect for air travel as you have the choice to two airports: Bari is 50 minutes away and Brindisi about 55 minutes drive.)

We have bed bases, built in today as a matter of fact - but no matttresses yet. And there is no working kitchen in the trullo yet either. Mimmo the Magician begged me to take our time and drive slowly so he has a little more time at disposal today but I told him we have different ideas and that by mid next week (and with the help of Ikea or the local big bed shop place in nearby Fasano) we plan to sleep there, no matter what!

Mimmo is clearly engaged in a last-burst fever of building activity and whatsapp keeps pinging with pictures, questions, requests, ideas and occasionally, from me, a 'NOOOOOOO!!!!' (As clients, I think we have been pretty easy, trusting the decisions made by those who are actually on the job and can see first hand the problem/conundrum/design or aesthetic issue that's emerged. I feel as my time editing at The Sydney Morning Herald and dealing with foreign correspondent taught me a lot: ultimately, those reporting fro on the ground know best the lie of the land. So,listen and take advice and intervene only when you are 100 per cent sure).

This project has also taught me to pick my battles: there are bits and pieces I don't like and would have done differently but are they important? So far, thankfully the answer is no. I will report back in a week to confirm this - and if not, I will eat crow!! (One tense moment a few months ago unfolded  when we arrived on site in the middle of winter and the doorway to Trullo 1 - our bedroom - had been bricked in and shaped into a window ostensibly to make room for an air conditioner. You might have heard me scream in another hemisphere. That one was a 'no compromise' which resulted in a very quick demolition...)

I can honestly say that I don't think I've felt this excited about anything since Christmas Eve in childhood when the prospect of what is to come fills you with butterflies - you know the ones that make your stomach churn and are as much about anticipation and joy as the quiet, unspoken fear of disappointment.

Of course, I know I won't be disappointed as we have visited pretty much once a month and kept on top of pretty much every stone's movement/replacement. But this is an unusual structure and you cannot help but wonder if it will be comfortable? Will it work in the extreme heat of a Puglian August? Will living it be as joyous and romantic as it is in imagination?

I guess these are all things we will soon find out. Meanwhile, it's back to packing boxes (and doing a final stocktake of what bits and pieces will now leave this house to go to their

new, Italian home.