It doesn’t take much to change my state of mind.

I had decided that today I would go to the little bar I went to when I arrived and was waiting to get into my apartment. It’s  not the most picturesque one, but it’s not normally busy and the girl who works there is friendly. (And a cappuccino is half the price of the ones near the Piazza Bra.)

My plan was to write something briefly in my traveller’s notebook while I was there. And then go  for a walk…..and hope I might stumble on the art gallery.

The nice girl must’ve remembered me and we got talking. I left feeling great. I don’t need much …….

So off I wandered with a big smile.

It had always been my plan to find a bar and go there every day so that I had some sort of connection.

However as I wandered happily around avoiding groups of tourists being educated I saw a bookshop /cafe which looked quite unthreatening.

I’ve  been going into bookshops as I don’t feel like an imposter. I could actually buy something. Unlike 95% of the shops where I couldn’t afford anything.

They had some beautiful things…as well as books. I felt very drawn to children’s books with beautiful illustrations. And then I saw the fountain pens. They were gorgeous. I nearly bought one for drawing with from Amazon before I left Pisticci. 

I had to wait for ages till another customer was served so I had time to look around. It was a mixture of books and tables with people drinking coffee. I eventually was shown lots of pens in different colours.  And I chose this one as it was pretty and had ink with it.

I could go for a coffee there any time.

Thank goodness I wasn’t  looking for the impossible after all.

I took some photos of the paintings on some of the buildings in the Piazza Erbe.  Maybe I’ll  try painting them.

More manageable,  that is, than today’s  sketch. The ink in my new pen isn’t waterproof so I decided that as there was far too much detail in this drawing I would just make it an ink sketch. ( and get some practice.)

I forgot to say that it was raining this morning when I woke up and I saw this bike parked outside the barbers.

I had to put my little rucksack in a locker in the supermarket tonight. That’s a first! However it’s  nearby and has everything I need.

Tomorrow it’s supposed to be sunny so I might go for a long walk. I bought protein bars to keep me going.

But, for now wine and crisps will do nicely.

Cheers🍷🍷