The journal that provides James Delingpole with a home away from Breitbart addresses the latest European heat wave:
Tuscany’s killer climate
As my engine died, a thunderclap exploded overhead and I noticed that I was freezing cold and soaked to the skin
The hotel manager had arranged for me to borrow an Alfa Romeo Spider Duetto two-seater convertible (1982) for the afternoon... I climbed in, fired the thing up, and with a cheery wave, 10,000 exploratory revs and a pip on the horn I set off through the village...
With the sun scorching my brow, a wobbly steering wheel, and my right arm rowing up and down the gears like a galley slave’s, the Duetto was not a relaxing drive. But the throaty, grunting engine noise, then its appearance, drew an astonished stare from an old man stacking straw bales. And after a dozen miles, it seemed to me that an Alfa Romeo Spider and an empty B road in front of you, on a sunny day in July, is a pretty good way to see Tuscany for the first time...
About a mile down the road, however, splashes of rain appeared on the windscreen... The sky went entirely black and a minute later I was driving slowly and in darkness through a rain curtain intermittently flash-lit by forked lightning. Then the rain increased and increased to a point beyond which I’d never before experienced rain like it and the windscreen fogged up. The rain started to pour in through several points at the roof edges and puddled in the seats and footwells. Then the battery warning light came on and the power steering failed.
I heaved the car over to what I guessed must be the side of the road and switched off the engine. As if the rain pounding on the roof wasn’t deafening enough, a thunderclap exploded right overhead. I noticed that I was freezing cold as well as soaked to the skin.
I remembered reading somewhere that in spite of its peaceful, arable aspect, Tuscany’s climate is one of violent extremes. Well, it hadn’t taken me long to find that out. Searching my pockets, then the car for my phone, I realized that I’d left it behind. Fortunately, however, the search had revealed a tube of Mentos and I sucked on a strawberry-flavored one while considering what to do next...
This article was originally published in The Spectator magazine.
FULL DISCLOSURE : OUR DELEGATION WAS LENT A SPIDER DUETTO DURING AN ERICE CONFERENCE IN 1984. IT IS A REALLY COOL CAR!
FULL DISCLOSURE : OUR DELEGATION WAS LENT A SPIDER DUETTO DURING AN ERICE CONFERENCE IN 1984. IT IS A REALLY COOL CAR!
