And there was light

This morning Romano, Christiano the electrician, and Christiano's assistant, whose name I never learned, arrived a bit after 8:30. This was the third day in a row that we had to get up at an hour that is for us painfully early. (Catching the train to Ikea the past two days required a similar schedule). But it was well worth it, because today we got working light fixtures in all the rooms in the apartment. No more wandering around with a flashlight trying to find where the towels are or where I left my shoes.

Romano was there to get his friend Christiano started, since the electrician speaks hardly any English and didn't want to discuss the details of our circuitry and requirements without a competent translator on hand. After 20 minutes Romano headed off to Parma, to his job teaching singing at the conservatory, and Christiano and his helper got to work.

Christiano (bottom half)

The other guy

Meanwhile so did Danny and I. Two of the light fixtures we bought at Ikea the other day were something of a craft project and we needed to put them together before they could be installed. They're very ingenious concoctions of plastic panels held together by rubber bands. I think following Ikea's instructions was probably good brain exercise for both of us.

I noticed that it was important to me that I finished first. Being an oldest child is a hard mindset to shake.



Once we were done, Christiano put them up, one in the foyer, one in the hall. Bello, no? And cheap, too.

The two electricians also added a bunch of plugs for the new kitchen and redid the wiring so that we can move the washer and dryer into an alcove outside the existing bathroom.

In addition, they added some plugs to the first guest room so that when our kids come to visit both rooms will have plenty of places to plug in their devices.

We got all this accomplished using a combination of my Italian, sign language, and, for one particularly puzzling exchange about a relay switch, Google Translate. We were all pleased with ourselves.




Another, rather less demanding craft project was the ceiling fixture in the living room. It's just a pile of stiff paper, reinforced with wires on the edges, that you crumple ad libitum for the desired artistic effect.

Before

After

I had to darken these to make the detail visible; in real life the fixture gives off plenty of light. I am as ridiculously pleased with these new additions to our household as if I'd designed them myself.

Tomorrow Christiano and his buddy are coming back to finish up. Then we'll get the plumber in to ready the gas and water lines for the new kitchen, hook up the washer and dryer in their new place, and connect the stove, so we can cook on more than one burner. 

And another piece of good news: Vodafone is supposedly coming to install our internet on Friday morning. By next week we may be so boringly civilized that I'll have nothing left to write about.