In the past 2 months we have had two (that we are aware of) well-known people purchase our wares. The first was an Australian actor who was a Dr in Crossroads on UK TV some 35 years ago...

The second, who visited today, is a British comedy actor - a very talented man who is very popular back in the UK. This man has an enormously famous catchphrase, which presumably he has shouted at him - or is requested to say wherever he goes.

We resisted this, as it must be incredibly irritating to be known for one thing, and seemingly one thing only, to be haunted by it, and to have it used by people who think they know you simply because they have seen you in a magazine or on the television...

So we did not say immediately 'I don't believe it!', we did not say 'ooh, I have a friend who does this great impression of you, go on, say it, say 'I don't believe it!'', we did not even mention it cleverly with our unusually finely honed and crafted Great British subtlety.

We did well.

He, however, did ask us 'so what are 2 english people doing selling ice cream in italy?'.

I know that hats are a complicated issue....they are a part of an image, part of a uniform, a statement, a functional item or merely a hat. Baseball caps particularly so.

Peak forward, peak oblique or peak backwards is an obvious starting point for fashion comment, it depends where you are, what nationality, what the weather is doing etc etc...pretty much everything can be explained away.

However......

There is a guy, probably around 17 years old I would guess, who comes in to the shop every so often. Nice guy, quite polite, happy and smiley.

But he wears his baseball cap in a very odd way. Now Italy is the fashion capital of the world - they say...so having explained this style to you I expect to see it echoed in the global media, on the red carpet and even on the golf course. If you can create a picture in your minds for a second, you need to tighten the adjustment to give the cap as small a circumference as possible, making sure the cap is stiff and stands erect...then just balance it on the centre of your head.

If that is hard to imagine just think of a boil on an orange.

How it stays on is anyone's guess, perhaps it is pinned, perhaps he has a hamster inside it holding it down with it's little paws, perhaps it has nested in there and will only come out in the spring, I don't know.

I have tried wearing mine this way, and I just look ridiculous.

As if a hat can make that much difference....

Ice cream is a funny old business.

2 years ago we laughed when it was suggested we buy this place, we knew nothing about it at all. I knew I liked ice cream, but how you make it, how you maintain it, how you sell it? Not a clue. But I guess you don't pack up your house and move 1200 miles to keep doing what you always did. It is pointless stepping out of your comfort zone if you pack it together with your socks and selected cd's, dust it down and set it on your new mantelpiece ready to be re-entered when the opportunity arrives.

Mind you, lots of us do exactly that, and I think that is why some ex-pats create their own little britain in their backyards. Familiarity is not something to be taken lightly...it is a serious matter...especially when it is not part of your life anymore. Does it breed contempt? No, I don't think so...I think lots of other things do such as frustration, stress and ruts (ones you are stuck in) but familiarity perhaps only breeds boredom.

So here we are. We sell ice cream to the italians. And Germans. And French, English, Australians etc etc. In fact, pretty much everyone except the Japanese. Strange.

Tuscany in July...it is supposed to be so hot you could fry pasta fritta on the strade...okay, it is 32 degrees c today, which is nice, but last year you could safely add 5 or 6 to that and be underestimating.

Being english, the weather is one of my biggest conversation topics. Being english in Italy with a sparse grasp of the language, and being a gelataio (ice cream man) - it is a massive conversation topic. Especially the intricacies which affect my income, which is a daily learning experience.

We shall see how July progresses...