A Day in the Rain

The topic of shopping occupies us more often.

On a beautiful morning, still without rain, the small gas cooker surprises us with its peculiar cooking behavior. Unfortunately, there is no proper flame, it flares up in all corners and ends and does not generate sufficient heat. After enduring seemingly endless waiting, the coffee is finally ready, but a look in Zappa's eyes makes it clear to me that we are experiencing the end of this longtime companion here and now.

No more to be done! What now?

I google a home improvement store and for safety's sake a Decathlon - both located close together in a town in Umbria about 70km away from us.

The thick clouds above us are just starting to fulfill their promise: it's drizzling. So the decision to make this trip is quickly made. We are aware that the journey can take all day, the Italian roads live up to their bad reputation.

Gutters, dents, humps, holes, craters, depressions, and curves, curves, curves. It rattles, hops, rocks, jolts, a cup of cream solidifies over the course of a day trip! No joke!

Driving fast is impossible, not to mention that speed cameras are everywhere in the towns. In one village street, we count eight of them.

Furthermore, it is advisable to avoid the towns at lunchtime. School is out, and the associated transportation service for the children inevitably leads to traffic chaos, even if the Carabinieri are doing their best on every corner, one easily ends up in a tangle of ancient, rickety Fiat Pandas and oversized, fancy SUVs.

But fearlessly we tackle the route. It's raining and raining, the drops are getting heavier and turning into massive hailstones. Lunch is only possible in the car, and when we finally reach our destination after several hours, deep puddles are standing in the parking lot, freeing the Crocs from sulfur residues.

In the home improvement store, we quickly find what we need, except that the new cooker doesn't work with our stocked gas canisters. The compatible ones are completely sold out.

The next Decathlon that still has this type in stock at the end of the season is again 70km away. Zappa goes to the Kangoo to fetch the defective cooker for nozzle comparison. He turns and twists, looks and examines, studies and analyzes - it takes time - and is undecided!

So what do we do now? I'm starting to get impatient, as often happens.

Finally, the decision is made to purchase a new cooker for just under 14 euros and test if the existing canisters might fit after all.

Back at the hideout, Zappa starts up the old device once again and behold: it works! Everything is as it should be, no flickering, no flaring, the flame tongues properly from the designated openings without any grumbling. We stand in the rain, amazed and look at each other in astonishment and somewhat speechlessly! At home, two more cookers are waiting to be used, so what do we do with the new one that doesn't even fit our canisters?

I take the newly acquired one, get my feet wet once again in the next puddle, and return it at the cash register. Unfortunately, I only receive a voucher in the amount of the purchase value and no cash. Zappa prepares me for this case in advance, so I grab a basket and fill it with seven canisters, suitable for the good old piece, of which there are still plenty.

Actually, we have enough on board, but what am I supposed to do with a voucher for a home improvement store somewhere in Umbria? In any case, we now have enough gas to be able to heat our rain shelter in the evening, as it has become quite chilly.

We want to return to the postcard-perfect Tuscany, so we embark on the 70km long journey, smiling a little about this day in the hideout in pouring rain that continues to beat down on us, and in the end, we arrive at one of the frequent destroyed bridges in this country. The closed road ensures a peaceful night for us. The dog walk soon ends in the rain, and the four young people in the ancient, rickety Panda quickly get too wet at the broken crossing.

We listen to the downpour and thunder in the darkness, unlike in the cork oak forest a few days later in Chianti, where not only the fox and the rabbit but also the roaring deer and the grunting wild boar bid us goodnight and our supplies have to disappear on the roof of the Kangoo.