Damn them foul, sneaky bastards! They've tricked me!  Lured me in with two years of blue skies, breezes, mountain views, only to return to grey, grey and more grey.  This is the weather that depressed the hell out of me when we lived here in the 80's.  Damp, grey and hot or damp, grey and cool, or damp, grey and cold.  My laundry has been hanging up in the bedroom with the air conditioner on dehumidify for two days and it's still not dry!  Everything smells slightly moldy and I swear there are mushrooms growing somewhere in the apartment....  The past has taught me that the only way to escape is to go up to the mountains or down to the sea.  The entire Po Valley - the flatland that follows the Po river from the base of the mountains all the way to the Adriatic - is one soggy mess, and will stay so until spring.  Gah. 

All the wet weather has caused terrible floods in Genova, Parma and other areas.  The heavy autumn rains run down the over-built hillsides towards the sea, taking mud and detritus with them.  Mudslides took out roads and killed a dozen or so people.  Every few years this happens.  The canals that take the runoff need to be reinforced and enlarged, and though the monies to remedy the problem are there,in typical Italian style, everything is held up by red tape.  The companies that lost the bid to do the work sued the government saying that the winning company paid bribes to get the work.  That's undoubtedly true but 10 years and a couple floods later the people in these affected areas are getting seriously pissed off.  Can't say that I blame them. 

Off to empty out my bucket that collects the water from the dehumidifier.  Then I will crawl between my hopefully dry sheets and pray for a sunny day.  xxoo me