LoooK over there!

Hey – did you know that the patron saint of lost keys is Italian and comes from Lucca?

No?

Well, that just goes to show how lucky you are to be reading Bitsnbos then – the blog with the key facts.

What’s more, did you know that Lucca is a beautiful place with the houses built on top of the old Roman coliseum?

See – you learn something new everyday.

Do you know the name of the patron saint of lost keys who comes from Lucca which is really beautiful and has houses built on the old Roman coliseum and where, just outside of town there is an abandoned cherry tree in which I once was lucky enough to sit and gorge and even today haunts me with it’s neglected abundance?

No?

Then you had better read on.

Zita!

The first time I lost MY keys was in a field in Norfolk and I didn’t know I could pray to Zita and that they would come back if I did.

Bitsnbobs didn’t exist back then.

I had driven to the field in my old, old van (the one before the one before the one I have now) for a long weekend of performing with my then partner Dave.

Three days later after the festival had packed up and gone there remained only Dave and I, searching every nook and some of the cranny, for the only set of keys we had for this old, old van.

Did we find them?

Did we not!

We went to the garage, they couldn’t help – this was a really old, old van so Dave, who had once been a plumber, did something to the ignition wires and added a large domestic light switch.

You could now SWITCH the engine on and off.

Unfortunately you couldn’t lock any doors except the back one - which had a separate key, that was, for some reason, in the oven.

So now there were two pieces of wood jammed in runners to prevent the front doors sliding and if you wanted to get in or out you had to climb up and over the bed, and a huge household light switch hanging from the dashboard.

Here today’s post just peters out…

Which is kind of apt because Peter was pretty close to Jesus by all accounts as I imagine Zita would be too and today just happens to be the anniversary of the death day of St Luke, another apostle.

Which creates a nice holy trinity for the day I think.

Zita, Pete and Luke.

As in Lucca, where this story started.

Now, if I can just find a recent photo of a church!