I do like Nondays

Nondays are the blank Scrabble pieces of time, easily slipped in to create space in an overcrowded calender or simplify an overloaded schedule. You would think  experienced retirees like us would have little use of them, our lives would be one long Nonday, that we would struggle to fill all our spare time. The only period this has been the case over the past seven years was from March to May this year during lockdown, the longest Nonday of the lot.

Otherwise, I simply transferred the tendency I used to have at work to become 'over-driven' into the activities that have filled our post-employment life. The last three months have been a case in point. The ancillary work around the major house re-build - clearing rooms, tip visits, re-decorating, garden landscaping - kept us so busy over the summer that I lost a stone in weight without trying. The time period between the  fitters putting the finishing touches to the new kitchen and the arrival of our kids for an inaugural feast was about four hours. We had barely stashed everything away before Gill was pulling it back out again to cook up something delicious. We had a great few days together. Then It was less than week between the time the family left and when we headed to Europe, the days were slightly manic, a mix of pre-trip shopping, last minute flagstone laying and van cleaning and sorting. Then I drove 1200 miles in six days, made all the more difficult due to busy autobahns and booked up campsites. Phew!

Time for a Nonday. It was à relaxed drive this morning, well by Italian standards, down the length of the Tuscan coast. Past Pisa and Livorno, arriving in a quiet sosta within easy striking distance of Piombino where we will catch the ferry to Elba tomorrow lunchtime. We've done a bit of shopping, refueled the van, but I still managed an hour's snooze this afternoon.

A proper Nonday needs to be spent in Nowheresville. We've sort of managed that too. I can't see Venturina Terme popping up anytime soon on a must see Tuscan bucket list. Although the town has a clutch of Roman and Etruscan archaeological sites it's mainly a workaday place with the look of a new town, rows of terraced social housing interspersed with mid rise apartment blocks.

It's not unpleasant, trees line the streets and every so often you get a glimpse of the olive clad low hills that surround the town.

The reason we are here is that it's got a great free sosta run by the local motorhome owners club. It's huge, but most of the places are taken by the members as somewhere to park their vans. 

There's a few venerable ones, you could trace the development of the Italian motorhome industry over the last quarter century just by wandering around the bays. 

As well as a well designed service point there's a small wooden clubhouse and seating area where local motorhomers come for a chat. 

Despite its popularity with locals there's plenty of space for visitors too, and it's a lovely gesture that the facilities are offered to them for free. Where better to while away a much needed Nonday, a bit of RnR before we immerse ourselves in the delights of the Tuscan Archipelago, in my case literally, I hope.