I am exhausted - physically and mentally. The death of my father has left me feeling like I’ve been hit by a bus. Outwardly, I’m going through the motions (working, eating, seeing friends) but I am unable to sleep through the night, haunted by memories of him dying in front of my eyes.
The slightest thing can leave me overwhelmed - finding a photograph of him, walking down the street in Tel Aviv and seeing a cafe we sat in on his last visit, hearing a song on the radio that he liked In the meantime, it transpires that no-one can find his will, so now there is the matter of his estate.
I know I am depressed and I feel I have to do something fast, before it worsens.
A call to one of my oldest friends, who lives with her husband and kids in the Tuscan hills, is enough to spur me to action.
She invites me, and I accept.
From there, I will journey onto the Eternal City, to house sit for another friend. I figure this change of scenery can’t hurt .
Besides, I’m an enormous fan of pizza and chianti.
I have been to Tuscany many times and I know it well, but where my friend Rebecca and her partner Massimo live is particularly beautiful.
Their rambling stone farmhouse (complete with three ‘zimmers’ for guests) is the perfect place to begin my ‘reboot.’
Set in the hills, it really is ‘country living’ - you need a car to do anything, and it’s a good hour’s drive from Florence, but the views are magnificent and the air clean.
The moment I walk through the door, I’m smiling. Rebecca’s son, Romeo, bounds down the stairs to greet me. He’s thrilled at my arrival, since he sees lots of games of Monopoly in his future. I love him dearly, as much as I would my own child. Lucretia, her daughter, hugs me tightly too. Almost 18, she’s grown into a beautiful woman and I can’t help but think how time flies - I remember when Rebecca was pregnant with her, when she was an infant, and I threw her in the air, and when she was 7 years old, and I read Winnie the Pooh to her at night. Now, she’s confident, smart and worldly.
Rebecca is one of my oldest friends - we met in 1997 and struck up a friendship quickly.
She’s the sister I never had and we can spend quite a lot of time in each other’s company without getting irritated. For someone like me, who likes plenty of ‘alone time’, this is a big deal.
She’s also a huge reader, like me, and loves classical music (she trained as an opera singer) so whilst the kids are at school and Massimo is out chopping wood for their open fires (it’s freezing in the hills) we sit and drink English tea and catch up since our last meeting in London, the previous spring.
I feel more cheerful than I have done in a long time.
We go out to buy a Christmas tree - I might be a Jew, but I love watching the kids getting excited as they decorate it. Romeo asks me to help him wrap his gifts (a top secret project) and we divvy the task up, him cutting the paper up and me handing him strips of sellotape as we loll on his bed. Lucretia - who’s incredibly good at drawing, baking and crafts - is building a gingerbread house, made out of pretzels, smarties and other treats. She’s not sure anyone will even want to eat it - but it looks fabulous!
Massimo, as ever, is a gracious host, who welcomes me with open arms, and answers all my questions about Italian politics. Whilst Rebecca grew up in Edinburgh, then moved to London, he was born in Toscana and this place is in his blood. Before the two of them bought this place, he lived a fifteen minute drive away in a village called San Giovanni Valdarno. His mother and sister are still there and he knows everyone…from the real estate guy and the hairdresser to the postman and the post office clerk!
It’s rainy and chilly (but we have fires) and unlike in the summer, where we’re eating al fresco and splashing around in the pool, under a scorching sun, we’re curled up under blankets in the evening, after dinner, all gossiping and laughing.
Romeo and I play endless games of Monopoly and I seem to be doing well although, at a certain point, he takes on my advice about being less risk averse. Before I know it, he’s amassing money and putting hotels on Park Lane and Mayfair. This kid is a fast learner.
I don’t want to leave but I must. Rome beckons. But the good news is that Rebecca and the kids will be down in January to visit me (along with Romeo’s Monopoly board).
There’s nothing like good friends to lift your spirits and, after the last few months, I've never been more grateful to know these four fine people. Luckily for me, they’ve no plans to leave La Pruneta any time soon, which means that (with luck) I’ll be back in a few months, for the summer season.
Rome, here I come.