Thursday 24 March 2011

Gardening

First light before 6, not dark till after 7, time to set up at the ecohouse,  look at  the spring flowers,  take the walks, read the books, eat the boar and venison (well, not me, but others can.)  Libya's over (bar the after-threats) and with any luck  Berlusconi will be too, by the time Angels comes back after the summer.

10 comments:

Sen. C.R.O'Blene said...

Enjoy your break Hats!

hatfield girl said...

Thank you Scrobs. Lovely here now it's all calmed down. The tortoise stepped out yesterday afternoon, covered in mud but looking good - had a drink and some violet leaves.

Chief of men said...

I can see you cutting this break short this year :-)

hatfield girl said...

No need for me to leave the pool or give up the after-lunch siestas yet, Chief. Lot of people writing the news are getting very hot and bothered - though the only thing that caught my interest was what happened to Mr Strauss-Kahn. That's a very nasty story.

Elby the Beserk said...

and a very nasty man. Hope you are having a lovely break up in Ecoworld; we're at home for the summer, but off to Ireland in the van the first couple of weeks in September. We will almost certainly be doing some property browsing in West Cork, where property prices have halved in the past 18 months. Some bargains to be had, never mind the hedge against Labour getting elected again.

hatfield girl said...

Ireland sounds good, Elby. We are all braced for David and Sam smartening-up the neighbourhood - and if the media think this is blairite Tuscany they need to look more carefully at the landscape.

Speaking of which, I received permission to build a barn for machines and things and use the roof to generate electricity (very green, and the subsidies are bound to run out soon) but now it's nearly built I hate it. It's all been fitted into the landscape but all I can see is the building from wherever I look; I bet it can be seen from outer space. No wonder ALL building is banned on these hills - except for green, of course. Perhaps I can train some plants up it all or something.

Chief of men said...

I hear what you say but if the mohammed isn't coming to the mountain......................

hatfield girl said...

But Chief, Italy's debt is only public debt; private debt is teeny. Added together the whole is perfectly respectably below most other country's debt. And public debt in Italy has always been like it is now, and much of it is owned by Italians anyway. And it's seven year debt and averages 4%. And Itay doesn't need to borrow at the moment, though it likes to and thus it does.

Even the Berlusconi regime hasn't lost a vote of confidence yet, though the technical government ready to take its place for the rest of the parliamentary term is all primed and waiting for if it does.

President Napolitano is on his hols at Stromboli, Mr Draghi is taking over the ECB, the Mills of God are grinding for Berlusconi - who is really the problem; it's governance not economics or financial status that is the problem here. I agree Deutsche Bank didn't do it any favours running like that but, then, Germany has it's euro-domination agenda as CityUnslicker wrote.

The talk across the valley in the val d'Ambra villa may be more concerned - after all if an economy the size of the UK with far lower debt levels and in far better diversified shape is under attack what might happen to its UK equivalent if it gets turned on? But here on this side, in the val d'Arno, the consensus is that people are just being snarky with Italy because it rouses great feelings of resentment and Berlusconi is unacceptable.

For those who are conflating the economic statuses of Italy with those of Spain there are some quite serious problems: problems of scale just for starters.

There's been more talk here of why the United States has taken it's humiliation lying down. The US doesn't have debt unless it says it has debt. What on earth has happened to its government?

(Returns to stuffing bell peppers: the garden's getting into over-fulfilment of the plan again).

Chief of men said...

Time's up autumns here. look forwards to your comments :-)

(I need help understanding the world)

hatfield girl said...

Hour hasn't gone back yet, Chief. Berlusconi hasn't gone either, although it looks as if Gadaffi has.

Anyway, there isn't a lot to say at the moment, despite all the eurofuss.