The Coronavirus Runs Freely While My PROVINCE is on Lockdown

On day 14 of the Coronavirus outbreak in northern Italy (I call the real outbreak the day we went from 22 to more than 100 cases) I started to calm down a bit.  I'd lived through going to the supermarket, a few tense English lessons, disinfecting a new car and re-disinfecting a new car.

I was studying tutorials on the right way to wash my hands.  I was starting to remember to take the Coronavirus Emergency Kit every time I left the house. I gave myself kudos every time I sneezed into my elbow.  I was really starting to believe that I could make it through this and it was getting easier to laugh at myself, like everyone else was laughing at me. And then, towards the end of Saturday evening (March 7) I heard that there might be a lot more rules when I woke up on Sunday.  I understood that the decision makers were going to pull an all-nighter.  At  bedtime everything was still just a rough draft.  Rough drafts don't always come to fruition.  Just check my Yahoo account.  I went to bed unaware that it was the eve of my last day of freedom for at least one month. 

On Sunday they announced that starting Monday, March 9 my province in northern Italy would be on lockdown until the third of April (or maybe the fourth or fifth, I don't remember.  But it doesn't seem terribly important right now).  And anyway, there's a good chance the date will be extended.  I'm not the type that likes to think I might go on vacation or I might buy a blue convertible because I don't live well with disappointment. So memorizing the last day of the lockdown as the next day of freedom didn't seem like such a good idea.

Lockdown seemed eerie when I'd read about it in Wuhan, in a galaxy far, far away.  I saw the video of a man lowering his dog on a rope from his balcony so the dog could run in the grass below.  And the haunting one of the hi-rise neighborhood at night where the residents opened their windows and sang.  I'm not sure what word a good writer would use to describe that scene, but I'm at a loss.       

What does lockdown mean in the province of Treviso, Italy? I don't know all of the rules, but here's how it will affect my life. I can't have any more English lessons. First, because all forms of private lessons must be stopped immediately. And secondly, because most of my students live in the province next door where I'm no longer welcome.  The only people that can move between locked down and non-locked down provinces are commuters.  If they're stopped, they have to show proof of their place of employment. And if they have no proof, they'll be fined.  

Schools and universities are closed. All events are cancelled. Pools and gyms are closed. I'm not so sure about public transportation. Funerals and weddings can be attended only by close family.  Actually, that might take a little research.  I think that was a rule before the lockdown, so I imagine it's been changed.  I woke to  this message from an English student yesterday. 

my uncle Silvio is dead.....tomorrow the funeral cannot be done but there will be a greeting in church at 3pm.

By greeting, she meant goodbye.  In Italian she would have written un saluto, which can mean hello and goodbye. But our friends at Google translate choose greeting. And Italian doesn't have three words for die, dead and death. It's an especially difficult one to teach and translate.  She didn't mean to make her message so blunt.  But the truth is, it's the truth. 

I'm living in a time and place where funerals can't be done. And the only thing I can do is take walks in the countryside and write this silly blog.   Rest in peace, Uncle Silvio.