Aliona visits Tuscany and Tuscany LOVES her!

[loveitdou]

I had a little conversation with the 2 field hands about chain of Command. They were coming to me about work and going around my foreman. I hate to generalize but they both seem to think that they are or should be in charge, Italians! I sat them down with a bottle of wine in front of us (including the Grounds Foreman & Jane) and poured them a glass of wine. We toasted and I said now Gentlemen I have something very important to say, it's important to me so it is necessarily also important to you. The foreman was translating, I have the foremen in charge because he has demonstrated the talent and ability to handle the job, I on the other hand don't want to be handling the job and as is more than obvious I don't speak Italian SO from now on you WILL take orders from the foreman 1st, Jane and I might ask you to do something and that is what you should do but I am retired Military, a senior officer, and I do not want you to be coming to me with problems nor to propose jobs, The Foreman is your boss and you Will talk to him about your concerns, and abide by his decisions 100% of the time Is that clear? I hope that is clear because your employment with Jane, who is the owner is dependent on this understanding. Jane was sitting by my side and smiled her beautiful smile then she told them to get to work, the meeting is over, she was none too nice about it which surprised me, I do prefer to keep things light. After they left Jane told the foreman that we both think he is and has been doing a great job and that he can come to either of us if anyone on the grounds staff gets out of line, he said that he was a little surprised about the workers coming to me but he will also talk to them and they will comply or he will fire them, Jane said GOOD you are in charge and empowered to do so by me!


I asked Jane how it is going with the house staff and she said she is thrilled that the Butler has taken over assigning duties and the he keeps them busy as well as working himself and that he and Chef get along great as equals.

I asked Jane if she wishes to go for a ride in the country and she said she'd get on her riding outfit, so I will get on my jeans and a work shirt. I was wearing an open collar shir,t a pair of slacks and a sports coat per MY Orders (LOL) Actually I was thinking driving but she loves riding the horses, I am a little saddle sore after the 6 hour marathon on horseback yesterday. I have some biking shorts with pads sewn in the crotch and I will wear them under the jeans, I usually wear them when I am on my Pelaton torture machine (exercise bike) for my normal 10 mile punishment every morning so I have several pair. Jane says we will be traveling to northern Italy in the Jag Sedan and we will depart for Northern Italy shortly on what will most likely be a 2 week+ trip. I will ask my mechanic to check to see if it needs any maintenance which is a bit much because he has his hands full with the Ferrari, he said it would be ready to drive tomorrow that after 5 days of dis assembly and reassembly. He'll probably tell me that he did that before it left Andorra, he is a Pro. I asked Jane if August 2 works for her as a departure date she just nodded so it is firmly tentative!

I got am e mail from the MB people saying the salesman will be delivering the Cabriolet tomorrow morning about 9 AM so I gave them the code to open the gate. He will be spending a couple hours with Jane explaining all the technical features of the car, Jane said she'd take him to the train station in LaSpezia so he cam get back to Rome where the dealership is. I purchased the car thru one of my brokers but all of that is standard with the dealership. The car did set me back 200K Euros so it should come with some extra service. Jane is excited to see it and so am I.

The new owners of the Oyster 125 called me from out in the Mediterranean asking me some questions about the water makers. They evidently did not pay attention when I explained the operation or my manner of operation at any rate. There was a whole lot to explain so they were most likely overwhelmed. They had failed to open the valve I had installed to keep the sea water out of the system when it is off, I usually close it when we approach port because the water in port is extremely filthy in many ports and I didn't want any of that in the system. They are a lot like me, they remember after they are told LOL. They are sailing for the Greek Isles and plan to motor thru the Corinth Canal (sp?) on their way back to Barcelona-sounds like fun but I have been too busy to actually miss sailing, though I do miss it when I talk about it.