It's almost 4am and I can't sleep in Italy because of the heat but I'm loving every minute of it.
Luckily for me the hostel I'm staying in has a computer for guests to use so I thought I'd pass some time with a blog post.
I'm with my son and so much to say - if only I could.
Most people hate this kind of oppressive heat but I like it - except for the mosquitoes which seem to like the taste of me. I have 45 bites and still counting as I wake up with more each day.
We've been staying in Pisa but tomorrow we go to Venice for an overnight stay. We've done Florence, which is exceptionally beautiful, and yesterday we went to Cecina Mare to see my 88 year year old aunt who I love dearly but it was quite a sad occasion as she is on her death bed.
My cousin thinks it's because she smoked heavily even though she gave up 25 years ago. I think it is just her age. She cried when she saw Daughter No 1, who spent four days with us before flying home today, who she hasn't seen since she was a baby. Maybe it's the years that have gone between that made her realise how things have changed and how old, weak and vulnerable she is now.
30 years ago she was a very busy mum herself and now she lies on her bed with an oxygen tank waiting, I suppose, to join the rest of her family including her sister, my mother. I was glad that, as what might be a parting gift, she gave me the opportunity to copy a photo of my grandmother when she was young. Things like that I treasure although my children don't yet value family roots or history.
What will be left for us in the Italy that I think of as my mother's after she has gone remains uncertain. Perhaps I'll lose that special bond that I think I have.
For sure I find that the little Italian I know gets no better because each visit brings with it more and more Italians who speak better English than I do. I guess that's the Eu for you. I've even noticed that many signs have dual language in Italian and English. It made me think of Wales.
Anyway, enough morbidity and regrets on this hot night and time I thought about sleep and feeding even more mosquitoes.
I'll write a longer post after I return home on Tuesday when I'll be thinking about how I can get to Stony Stratford for that protest.