il biglietto e bloccato !

Sunny and warm start to the day, quick six sheared, stopped for water, sheared eight more and its time for lunch. All done and the kit is in the car. No superglue, no mishaps. Glad to be shearing under cover though, temperature must have been hot, so hot I was wearing shorts. Homemade tagliatelle for lunch, quick rest and we're back in the car\minibus and off to Cesena, Chris again driving, more places I've seen before, probably, and were on the autostrada. These have tolls, so you collect the ticket before you enter, then when you get off, there is a row of lanes, some manned some not. Trying to work out where to go after the toll booths, I suggested we use a middle one, there was a car in front, and when we stopped, so do a couple more behind us. The Italian in front was having a few problems, but eventually moved off, is she couldn't get it to work, what hope did we have! Yes, the ticket got stuck, it went part of the way in, too far to pull out again. Press the red button, first we had calm Italian, we kept saying "inglese" and then we had irate Italian. We know we had a biglietto but the machine ate it. The lady in the car behind tried to help, she knew some English and we knew some Italian, unfortunately not the same ones! Next comes man in uniform, very helpfully shouted more Italian to the man behind the speaker. "Where are you from ?" he asked, "Bristol" was about to come out when the look on his face stopped me. "Uno junctionione" was delivered instead. A charge of 50 cents was punched up, then it wouldn't take the five euro note, I was wondering how many cars would build up and was it the done thing to ram the barrier. Chris found 50 cents in his shorts (insert own joke about American rapper here), which was duly deposited and we were on our way. The shearing was completed with smooth efficiency and we only got lost once on the way back. We have seen a lot of San Marino, mainly by mistake

Arrival in San Marino

An uneventful trip to Bristol International Airport , followed by an uneventful check in and an uneventful security check and we're in the departure lounge. Doesn't make interesting reading, but it good when you're travelling. Uneventful Burger King, followed by uneventful long walk to departure gate (I thought I was going to get on the plane at Weston Super Made) and an uneventful flight. Well nearly, why does the pilot take great delight in turning left, to show me the ground out of the window. We must have turned at least a dozen times, at one point I thought we would be back where we started! Usual airport stuff at Bologna, plus a long wait for the hire car. When they say Volkswagen Golf or similar, you get nervous when they say they haven't got a Golf, or similar. We are directed to the car park past the Lamborghini, to the colossus of a car we are hiring. A Citroen C4 Picasso, enough room for all our kit plus a couple of alpacas at least, more small van than large car. Anyway Chris piloted the vehicle and I co piloted, and we arrived in San Marino at Alpaca Hill, just before 9 and just after a few detours. I'm sure we passed that last year as another landmark went past. Sometimes I was right, well I think I was!
Shearing starts tomorrow, where's that superglue.

Shear we go again!

OMG Shearing, yes Old Men Going Shearing.

Yes it's that time of year again, The sun cream is packed, so is the superglue, the suitcase has been chosen and so has the assistant. This years lucky victim is Chris, a friend who purchased alpacas from us a number of years ago and he hasn't managed to shake us off yet. He has had a lot of experience of my shearing, having helped on a number of occasions, and we already have a couple of herds under our belt this year. As you can tell from the title of the blog, Chris joins me in the "no longer in the first flush of youth" gang, which will be a change from taking my son. He has a "proper job" and doesn't want to waste his hard earned holiday travelling through Italy shearing alpacas. Anyway, his lose is Chris' gain.
     There are a few changes from previous years, this time we are under our own steam, a hire car is booked for collection at the airport and there is no return trip, everyone is being sheared in one go. So, if we don't get lost, it's about 1500 miles in 7 days and 9 farms.
      Bristol International Airport tomorrow and we are off!