The good news is that my new passport arrived on Monday (first in November, but worth a mention). The bad is that we’re looking at another lockdown, albeit slightly lighter, and it seems highly unlikely that I’ll need a new passport before 2021 at the earliest. But we did manage a couple of days away in Florence, soaking up some culture to last through the dark days ahead. Marketing the podcast — at least as far as buying €30 of advertising on FB goes — was a complete bust. Not one new listener that I could detect. But more people do seem to be downloading the transcripts, so that’s surely a better use of the money.

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The seasons changed, with a vengeance. We just emerged from a week of cold, torrential rain. I got soaked at least three times, two of them standing obediently in a socially distanced line outside the post office. And one of those was to send my passport off for renewal. At this point, it is a toss-up whether Covid delays my ability to travel until after the new passport returns or whether Covid delays the return of my passport so that I am not able to travel when I would like to. Hey ho.

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A very quiet month at home, although with a fair bit of paid work to do. Got it done, mostly, a little bit late. The great treat was to see the plants on the terrace do better than ever because we were here to give them a bit of attention, even though it is impossible to keep on top of the various sap-sucking insects.

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Not a huge amount to report this month, mostly because we were on holiday for a little more than two weeks, and a glorious holiday it was too. We are very fortunate not to be in either of our home countries, so were able to enjoy travelling, for one thing, and great places to travel to, for another. And I promised myself I wouldn’t bang on about the tragic landscape of dead olive trees in Puglia, so I won’t.

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Rushing this out, a little, because tomorrow we hit the road and I know that if I leave, it won’t happen. So, possibly sketchy, but done.

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