Dowd adventures in Bologna

giovedì 3 aprile 2014

Last weeks of skiing

So without Jayne most weekends, the boys and l have been going to Cortina. The weather has just got better and better, though with no new snow it was becoming a bit icy in the morning and slushy in the afternoon. Hunter and l had a great long weekend together, and his skiing is very very good, and the other weeks Ewan came and also skis very well, very fast, and likes to flick the snow over you. We had some more lessons with Gian Luca, which was well worth it, and he is such a terrific person, and so good with the kids. I learn quickly not to try to do what they did, powder snow and me are not friends, and the moguls can just be too exhausting, but the black runs in general l love, especially when the runs are empty, and the sun is out.
So we finished last weekend after a day of fresh snow earlier in the week, a perfect weekend with Stephane from Paris , who was in Bologna for the book fair, he is a good skier, very natural, we had some lovely meals, beers on the balcony, bombadino's in the rifugio's .
The boys are doing ok at school, Hunter is improving, and tries hard, though he can be slow, but he worries about everything, Ewan does well, hates homework, rush's through it, and does not really care what happens. But he is very good with electronic things, much as that is not me, l would prefer him to do more of his drawings which he is so good at.
The street (Via Cesare Battisti) is still closed since last June from the fire in the palazzo next door. But there are signs as they put scaffolding around it that they may open the road, but we have been fooled in to this thought before, and you wonder why Italy is were it is, imagine a road in the CBD of melb being closed for a year!
It was Jaynes 48th birthday last week, and l was able amazingly to organize a surprise party for her here in the apartment, we had about 40 people. After sending out an email to everyone, saying please reply to me by phone, as Jayne uses the computer, l had 5 people email me back, thankfully Ewan was able to delete them before she saw. Then one person , who will remain nameless, after l especially emailed her saying please , please do not email me, she emails me back with the original email titled JAYNES SURPRISE PARTY, saying ok! ( you have to wonder).Thankfully Jayne had booked a massage that evening and was not home till 7.30, so l was able to get everyone in, the food out and prepared the daiquiris . So l sent the boys out at 7.15 to see when the car arrived home with Jayne, they sped up at 7.30, she is here!!!, so all the guests hide in the living room, with the lights out, and windows closed. I waited at the front entrance , pretending to be getting the camera to take a photo of the boys in the living room. I waited, l waited, 10 minutes passed, and l thought she must have got up the stairs by now, so l creep down, the car is not there. I go into the room which has increased by 10 degrees in temperature, and say it's a false alarm, then Jen who helps with the cooking and cleaning, says she will go down. 15 minutes later she rushes up , she is here, the same procedure occurs and l wait, and wait, finally going down again, no car!!!
So this time l tell everyone, who are starting to get tipsy from the daiquiris, that l will do the lookout, 10 minutes later she arrives, l run up, and we prepare, she gets to the stop of the stairs as l look through the security hole, and then starts talking to the neighbour, for 5 minutes, we still have 3 guests who are running late, and l am sure they will come running up the stairs soon, yapping, and Jayne will here, what to do!!
Luckily she stops talking and walks in, l act as relaxed as l can, and quickly tell her to come in and see the boys. Meanwhile in my mind l am imagining, people collapsing from the heat that is building up in the room, and the daiquiris. She enters to a dark room, surprise!
So the night went on till 2 am, when our Colombian friends and an Australian singer who lives here (Costa ) and his friend leave, a quick clean up, so it ain't too hard in the morning, as the daiquiris were quite yummy.
So now we begin to prepare for the summer break, which is 3 months long, so far we have a week in Alicante with Stephane at his holiday house, which is wonderful, 2 weeks in Puglia near Lecce with mikey and Kate Frayne, then a week in Malta in late may, 2 weeks minding Mikey Frayne's house in London. At the end of June we go to Basel, to the art fair, and Easter we intend to do a few day trips to local towns that we still have not visited, and even trips to Florence and Milan, that we have only been to once. As well as a trip to Maserati, Lamborghini and Ferrari factories, l don't know, it just sounds better than Ford, Holden and Toyota.
On the art side, l have been rather productive, as usual, and have just finished a small three part series , of three wood cuts from Cortina, and a series of large charcoal drawings titled Tower.
Next week l have a small show in my studio to show the drawings and recent sculptures.
So thats that, the boys are playing soccer still, though Ewan has a desire to possibly stop and do aths or basketball. At the moment, along with Jaynes damaged knee, Ewan has a sore ankle from basketball, Hunter a sore hip from skiing, and me a twinge in the hamstring from running, otherwise we are all well, happy and smiling.

martedì 18 febbraio 2014

Sochi Olympics and other matters

Firstly, l just got back from Cortina with Hunter, we went up on thursday evening into rain and snow, not looking promising, but waking up Friday morning to pure blue sky. So we skied all day at Faloria and Castallo, collapsing early. Saturday was nearly as perfect with the weather, and we went to Cinque Torri in the first half, and Socrepes / Tofana the second, and l must say Hunters and even my skiing has improved dramatically. We don't think twice about black runs and enjoy the challenge, Hunter a bit more than me. Then on Sunday the clouds came over and l thought why bother , lets just go home early, but Hunter had other ideas , so we ended up going up to Faloria. The weather was not too bad, and we had a couple of great hours skiing, then as we went on the chairlift to the top run, the weather changed, so much the wind increased and visibility was down to 5-10 metres. As we got of the lift the wind just blew Hunter along, and l had to hurry after him, as it was hard to see, we then decided to head back to the main rifugio, we met up with some other lost skiers and we all began to feel our way along, finally coming to the run down we thought, but it was one of the black runs back to the base of the lift, so down we went, and back into the storm. This time we kept to the left, and met up with three Russian women who asked if they could follow us, l did not mention what had just happened to us. Thankfully we made it to the right run back, and 20 minutes later where on the gondolier back down, wondering why people where still coming up.
Now the Olympics in Sochi, l have been watching them, and its always great to see sports you never see for another 4 years, such as curling, luge, skeleton, x country ski/shoot. And it occurred to me that the winter may have it on the summer for unusual sports, l know the summer have greco roman wrestling, and synchronised swimming, and we love them, but the cold months must do something to our human minds, and we invent these strange sports.
Lets start with curling, the more you watch it the more you appreciate it, but also wonder why are you watching it, its like lawn bowls, but the Norwegians dress so well, their outfit(s) are the best by far in any sport, and one of their guys looks like a movie star /model. You do wonder how much good the sweeping of the brooms does, or is it just to make the sport look weird, and involve more people. Maybe they should do it with lawn bowls, and have mini mowers to prepare the surface for the ball.
Next is the skeleton, the name is perfect and right out there, and there is a select group of countries that excel in it, its great to see Latvia doing their bit. Now the skeleton like the luge ,look and l am sure are dangerous, but the group skeleton is something that was designed in a very cold place, without much to do. Firstly you have a women go down and as she finishes she sits up and hits a sign, that alerts the guy at the top to start his run, so down he goes, and he also hits the sign. And this is where it gets interesting, next down are two blokes lying on top of each other in tight lycra suits, and down they come. Now l don't know if they ever have two women come down together, or a male and a women, but it does make you wonder, why!
I do know that watching the skiing has improved my skiing, but l have not yet felt the desire to go the the toboggan runs and lye down and slide in lycra. I also would like to know what the Russian leadership thinks of this rather gay looking sport, as l don't think they got a medal in it, unlike ice dancing!
This weekend we all head up to Cortina again, as the boys get the following week off, what they call ski week!. So its 8 days of skiing, Jayne will go back with some friends on Sunday, as she is in the middle of her rehab on her knee. On that story, we have found out from apparently the best knee doctor here that we can have him operate on her, and with our public health card get the whole thing paid for, and you wonder why the country is collapsing. Jayne is not big on operations, but l feel in the end she will as, not having it will mean she wont be able to ski or run with confidence.
So l must go l have to drive Jayne to her Italian lesson, she is on only one crutch now, and next week , none, and l must say is more active and happier, and so are we all!!

mercoledì 5 febbraio 2014

Something to say, while Jayne is out of the house!

Am taking this opportunity to write while Jayne is at her rehab on her knee. Firstly today is our 14th anniversary, thanking mum for ringing me and telling me, and when l wished Jayne happy anniversary this morning, and l realised she had also forgotten, she said who told you. She knows me well!
Jayne has been bed ridden for the past 5 weeks, and though she can move about a bit now on crutches it can be painful and slow. That is not to say it has not been slow for us, but it has been painful. Jayne has mastered the use of the crutch to point, to pick up and to hit with. As l said last time you hear the Mitch, MITCH, MITCHHHH, often now, and also Ewan, EWAN, EWANNNN, but never Hunter as she knows he will never come, Hunter is smarter than we think.
So l have realised, or at least been told that l don't put the correct amount of milk in her tea, that she wants a particular amount of caffe latte, not a full glass, but not a small glass. That my eating habits are caveman like, that the boys bad habits are my fault. I don't realize the pain she is in, l don't seem to care, or do anything for her ( that she wants). I put her daily injections in too painfully, and seem to want to hurt her. I did not heat the greens up enough, and that the rice was too soggy, and did l eat the salad in the fridge! And l don't want to talk to her at 11.30pm, as l try to go to sleep, Jayne sleeps into 9am , just after the boys have gone too school ( fed, clothed and with a packed lunch)
But even with all this we made it happily along today, and she still has a lovely smile and heart, its just rather difficult to find some days.
Of course, you might say l would be worse, but l don't think so.
So last weekend we went to Cortina, to revisit the crime scene. The boys had Friday off, so we went up Thursday afternoon, it took nearly 5 hours, as it rained all the way, then turned to snow as we climbed higher, the traffic went into slow mode, even l had to pass some cars in the blizzard ( l have such faith in the winter tyres) So we arrived at the apartment , only to find it obviously well snowed over on the driveway, which is rather steep. So we park across the road in an undercover park, and Jayne is able to crutch her way across the road. This is after waiting 20 minutes in traffic, as a truck has lost itself on the one way road, and the traffic has decided to go two ways, while the policeman wonders what to do. Our park was 20 metres away, but it might have been 20 km. So anyway, Jayne makes it across the road, and then we realize its just too steep and snowy for her to walk, so somehow l create a superhuman effort in myself and piggy back her up the 80 metres to the door. It took 15 minutes for my breath to catch up. Then several trips back and forth to get the luggage, this is while Jayne points, picks and hits me with the crutch. We got take away from the pizza place below, which l thought ld never do, and it was tempting to just go there with the boys and have some time out!!
So it snowed and snowed and then snowed, the morning brought a metre of snow, which made it rather difficult to get down the road as l took as big a steps as l could with Hunty trying to follow, until we both seemed trapped in it. We made it out to the shops for supplies, then retraced our steps back. An hour later Hunter and l found some snow shovels and dug a 80 metre track through over a metre of snow. A neighbour came along, with a look of why bother, its just going to keep snowing ( he did not have a wife on crutches) but good on him, he returned with a shovel and helped dig. Over the next three days he and l kept that track like the Bridge on the River Quai. And Hunter and Ewan used it as a luge lane on some basic plastic toboggans. They also built a huge fort with tunnels and towers, ready for a fight to the death. And this was terrific, as the snow had caused all the lifts to be closed, due to avalanche.
Sadly our other friends who were coming up, were all turned back, as they closed the road early Friday morning. So we spent the weekend playing board games, making short trips outside to the shops for supplies, and the boys spending hours playing in the snow. The streets were full of lost souls, wondering, wandering what to do, and where was it all going. The roads opened on Saturday, and we left Sunday morning, as the snow became rain, washing all manner of evidence away.
Jayne began her rehab this Monday, three sessions a week ( one in the pool) They supply a bus pick up near by and drop off , which is helpful, as otherwise l would be driving out 20 minutes and then deciding to wait 2 hours or return . It seems to be a very good set up, especially for Italy, though strangely it does not have a coffee area, and the front door is rather heavy to push open, especially for people with injuries, l don't think there is a suggestion box. They are apparently the best in Italy, and have offices in several places, but have just opened one in London, which l imagine would be a bit better designed. As Italians might wave their arms about, but few complain, as the people with white coats are doctors and know best. I have to get myself one of these white coats, it definitely holds power, though l don't think enough to open doors, especially at the clinic!
Hunter and Ewan got their half year reports, which seem very good, most importantly a huge improvement, of course room for improvement. This year has been a big jump for them, and they seem to have handled it well. Ewan is very keen on technological devices, which is not my favourite thing, and seems to feel at 11 he should have an iphone, or ipod or i something, l remind him that ( i ) am the only one who gets those things now. Italian and sport are the two areas they don't enjoy, and knowing the boys that seems strange as they love sport, but the teachers are not their favourites, they both are Spanish, but l don't think its that!
Hunter got a yellow card, which is a new thing they have bought into the school, and his sport teacher gave it to him. Hunter suggested it was like getting a Nerf gun, you want to use it straight away, and he thinks the teachers are doing that with yellow cards, and l think he may be onto something.
When his teacher asked him what his parents thought of him getting a yellow card, his friend nudged him and said , say what your father said, thankfully Hunter said what he was meant to say "they were disappointed with me" not "don't worry, that guy is a dick-head"
So l will go now, as l must make sure the house and kitchen are perfect before Jayne returns, otherwise it's a whack with the crutch.

lunedì 20 gennaio 2014

Christmas 2014

So this year we had the family christmas in Bologna. Mum and dad came along, and Lisa and Rob and the kids all arrived from Milan by train on the 23rd, and Jason , Lara and the kids were arriving the next morning by plane from London.
Well the next morning we get a call from Jason, that there is a delay at Gatwick, this is after they got up around 5.30am to catch the Gatwick express to the airport, but when they arrived by cab at the train station , they found out the train was cancelled, so they got back in the cab, paid a small fortune to drive them to the airport. When they arrived at Gatwick they find out that the storm the night before, has flooded a local power station and all flights are delayed. The poor women at the counter of Easy Jet had a hell of a time, as everyone began getting rather irritated, and she knew nothing, all other staff just disappeared. The same was at all airline counters, and thousands of people were lying about with their luggage. Basically the day was a disaster with know one telling anybody what was happening, just the possible hope, and so we got messages from Jason that he was leaving soon, then not, then maybe later. Finally they checked into a local hotel for the night, on the hope they would get an early morning flight. No such chance, so they cabbed back to London and booked into another hotel where they had christmas lunch. And we in Bologna had a small family lunch. Our day was wonderful as we had Jen, our fellow Australian ,who lives in Italy cooking and helping clean for the couple of days that everyone was there. The kids stayed with us, and the parents in a near by hotel. Jens food was perfect, and the day went along so easily, we all agreed this is the way to go, even if we have to fly her over to Australia. Jen has cooked in Hagger's and many great restaurants in Australia, and we were all very lucky.
So a couple of days sight seeing in Bologna, we went to a wine tasting at a local winery, a church or two and had a restful time. Jason on the other hand, could not get a flight to Bologna, and so flew on the 26th to Venice, where lisa and Rob went also. On the 28th they got their hire cars, and headed towards Cortina, mum and dad had a driver drive them to Cortina from Bologna, and we left also. After making it very clear that the hire cars need to be either 4wd or have winter tyres, Jason had a hell of a time getting winter tyres, they just don't guarantee it, but do have chains. Rob got a 4wd and Jason a Citroen 5 with chains.
Now Cortina had lost power from a power issue from a huge storm that dropped a metre of snow suddenly, and so up to the 28th when we arrived from the 26th, they were in dark, we arrived at the apartment and soon after they cleared the snow away so we could park. Jason fortunately was staying at another smaller apartment, which had an underground car park.
Our time started well, we got everyone their skis and lift pass's, went to a pizza restaurant the first night, (all 16 of us). Jayne had done a great amount of booking restaurants, agriturismo, and events for everyone. So Lisa/Rob and our family along with mum and dad stayed in the large apartment for 10 ( there was 11 of us) and Jason in the smaller one ( which Jayne and l have rented for the season) Now the heavy snow, ice made it hard walking around, and Cortina is a walking town, as we were basically in the centre, and driving is hell at that time, the busiest week of the year.
One night we went to a agriturismo, with some friends of ours from Bologna ( Carlotta, Nicolo) to get there we had to catch ski mobiles, with sleds. It was Lauchie s birthday (13th) and it could not have been more fun. Mum and dad who we were a bit concerned, had a great time, which took about 15 minutes. Oscar dropped his iphone out of his pocket, which fortunately the sled behind happened to see and pick it up, as he had no idea. The food was not great but the experience getting there was, and to finish the night of, they did not take credit card, so l ended up promising them l would pay it from my italian account the next day, which l did!!
Another night we went to another place, that we had to drive up a 1 km track. I went first then Rob, and finally Jason, 50 metres from the top, Jason's car began to slide and he had to stop, after trying to push it, then we opened the chains, only to finally realise that they were both broken. Meanwhile one car at a time begins to pull up behind us on a single road. So we have 6 Italians and three Australians pushing the car, still not luck, everyone is yelling at Jason ideas and directions in English and Italian, which did not help. Finally Rob and Harrison go to get the farmer/owner to get his tractor, and with one final push with6 Italians we got it going and up to the top. And so 30 people walk into the restaurant together all laughing and happy. It was a great night and the food was perfect. When we left we got well ahead of Jason in case he could not stop on the way down, two days later he bought some new chains for the hire car, and practised putting them on.
We had many meals out at different places, sometimes all 16 of us, other times just a family, and everyone enjoyed the quality of the food. We went one night for a drink at the best Enoteca, and ended up eating nibbles there as we could not get into a restaurant.
Mum was able to wear her fur coat with absolute safety, as everyone wears furs there, as you can see and read from my blog two christmas's ago. Mum and dad did not ski, and so their days were often a bit quite, though they had a great view, and so helped with a bit of shopping and cleaning. The kids had a great ski instructor Gian-Luca ( 22 years old) so Lauchie, Lucy, Oscar, Mickey , Hunter and Ewan had lessons with him, allowing the parents to do a bit as well, and then we would meet at the refugio's on the mountain for lunch.
The first week was very busy and a bit annoying sometimes, but the second week was quite again, and a lot easier to get tables for lunch. Rob and lisa snow board, and the rest ski, most of the kids were similar standard, Harrison was the best of all of us, and Sassy the least.
So we skied at Tofana, Faloria, Cinque Torri, Cristallo and Socrepes. It was a small choir in the morning getting everyone up and going to the lesson on time, and there was always someone who for got a glove, a helmet, glass's etc, but we survived. The best thing was the ski hire place was right below the gondolier that went to Faloria, and that was only 5 minute walk from the apartment, and we could leave the ski's and boots there overnight to dry and be warm for the next day.
The owners of Igor's ski hire, Giovanna and Igor are great people, and when Jayne and l went to them a couple of weeks before the others arrived to get our gear they kept giving us bottles of presecco, mind you l ended up buying two pairs of new boots for Jayne and l. But all the gear we hired was brand new, which the boys loved, plus it was better quality than most of the others.
Over the two weeks we were all there, the weather was nearly always perfect, and the roads began to be cleared better, if anything it got a bit slushy in some places under the powder snow. Hunter and Ewan show absolutely no fear, and just go down black runs straight and fast, unless they are having a lesson, and any chance to go through the trees or up jumps they take, ld stop them if l could catch them.
So we get to the major event of the trip, Jaynes accident!
It was at Tofana, perfect blue sky day, we skied over from Socrepes, and skied a few runs, Jayne was falling over a few times which was not normal. We met mum and dad up there for lunch at the refugio, as the views from there are terrific, and they can get there on the gondolier with-out skies. So we had lunch, and l decided to do a few runs and then go back with Jayne to Socrepes, Jayne was going to wait, as l came up the chairlift for the second time, l saw Lisa over the side of the run helping someone, then Harrison who was with me, said is that Jayne? She had decided to go and watch the boys in their lesson, and skied reasonably fast down the left side which we never did through powder, which she never skied in, and so the ski stopped suddenly in the slushy snow underneath and she flew forward, but the bindings held fast, as she twisted over and about , she ripped her MCL , and partly ripped her ACL, as well as damage to cartilage and other parts of the knee. So a snow grooming machine came up and put her in the cab, at one point we thought it was going to pick her up in the blades! They then put an inflatable bag over her leg and we wend down the gondolier to the awaiting ambulance, she was the 4th that day. At the hospital they told her the bad news from the x-ray, and there was another women with a broken ankle and a child with a broken arm. Later Rob picked us up, after dad had carried our skis back to Igors. And so that was three weeks ago, and Jayne is still lying down, unable to really move, she has crutches, but has been told to wait another week or so before moving, and then we will see what will be done, an operation or not. There is a lot of thought that operations don't make much difference. Luckily here in Bologna is the best hospital for knee surgery in Italy, mostly ski accidents. Also our good friend Roberto is a major surgeon here who does hip and knees. There is also a brilliant rehab centre next to the Bologna football club, so things could be worse.
I must say it has been rather exhausting and annoying, as Jayne yells out, Mitch, MITCH, MITCHHH, and l run in from doing the laundry, to find out she needs another cup of tea, or have l arranged the linen cupboard yet. I also have to give her injections to stop the blood coagulating, Jayne hates needles more than anything, and it is the one moment of the day that gives me satisfaction. The boys have been sort of helpful, but l would not say brilliant. Jayne is deciding to write a book in the months of quite time she will have, so when it is published please buy a copy as we don't have insurance here!!!
Rob was great at Cortina in helping Jayne understand what was ahead of her, and what she could do, l should say Dr Rob!
On the way back to Cortina with Jayne in the middle back seat, and her stretched out damaged leg on the console, l was constantly yelled at as l moved my arm to change gears. We stopped at a roadhouse, and Jayne went to the toilet, as l helped her across and into the toilet, we found a man waiting out the front of the handicapped door, he looked at her, and explained his wife was inside with the same accident, moments later Jaynes twin hops out and they begin comparing stories. We left them as they hoddles over to their Audi with ski's on the roof. And that brings to mind the new ski boots Jayne has, any one want to buy some very very new, barely used Rossignol ski boots size 38.
So on the 27th we see the doctor again and decide then what to do, either way it will be months of slowness, and we live up two flights of stairs!
I must stop now, as madam calls and her pillow needs fluffing, and her back requires a massage, she's not well you know!!!

martedì 17 dicembre 2013

Winter 2013

So winter has come to Bologna, well it has in the date but not the weather. Two years ago it was snowing heavily in late November, and Bologna was white and beautiful, it is now the middle of December, and the last two weeks have been sunny blue skies , and though cold not unpleasant.
Our road is still blocked off, from the fire that burnt the building next to ours in summer, they said it would be clear late November, now today they say it will be on the 22nd of December, we shall see. It has been rather annoying as you have to do a large walk around to get to the shops, and drive through very very tight streets to get around the back way, so we will be rather happy when and if they ever open the street.
The boys have had a busy and challenging term so far with much more homework and tests than they have had in their whole school life, but l must say Hunter has done very well, and as had Ewan in class, though his homework is a struggle. Ewan l think is going through a "stage" and can be rude and nasty which is not him, and he is not the happiest kid in class. We have had an issue with some bulling, which the school has gotten onto, but it seems to continue even in a small way, and this l think has added to his irregular manner.
So a few days to go and the term is over, and the boys will l feel be back to joyous beings, as their cousins arrive for xmas, and they are pretty sure they are getting a play station, which seems to be the centre of the earth to them, along with Minecraft.
We went to Cortina for the weekend, as we have a small apartment for the winter season, in a great position. We got our ski pass's and ski gear, and got in a days skiing before we came home. Jayne and l decided to purchase new ski boots, as we will be doing this again next year, and it can make a big difference with comfortable boots. The boys hire gear was all brand new, which made them happy, Ewan has black (cool) Head skis and new boots, and Hunter Volkle red skis with new boots. Thankfully the ski jacket and pants we bought them 3 seasons ago still fit, which shows how big they were then!
So we have the entire family ( Jason's, Lisa's and mum and dad) coming to Bologna for xmas, and then on to Cortina for 10 -14 days. 16 all together, which will make it challenging getting a dinner booking, but will be so much fun. The weather on the weekend was perfect, so hopefully it will continue.
On the way home on sunday, about 1 hour in on a 3 hour trip the traffic came to a slow slow crawl for about 30 minutes, finally we came to a point where it began to move, but all l could see was a single car at a time as if a traffic signal was setting them off every 10 seconds, when l got to this point it was 3 men in reflector jackets handing out pamphlets on a union march in Rome that week protesting about the government, and no one seemed too annoyed, l could not believe it. Then 1/2 hour later we have the signs on the autostrade telling us to watch for fog with only 70 mt sight, and to slow down to 50 km. So the traffic that was doing 130 - 150 km hits the heavy fog and slows to 110 - 130 km ! (thats Italy) And to be fair, it made sense, as l said to Jayne who was yelling at me to slow down, if l slow down we will be hit by someone doing 110 km. So l stuck to the car in front rear lights and drove at 130 km in heavy heavy fog, trusting him, as he was trusting the car in front. We made it home!