The Coronavirus Runs Freely While My COUNTRY is on Lockdown

Noise from the carpenters remodelling my neighbor's house had become a pleasant get-up call.  I was already awake when they arrived, but once they started moving I thought I should be moving too, so I got up.   That lasted until the first day of the lockdown. One might say that depression left me in bed until 9.30am, but I'd say that I missed my get-up call.  The carpenters hadn't shown up for work.  Instead of enjoying the first spring tweets of the early birds that aren't afraid of the Coronavirus, I was longing for the jackhammer, to prove that this was all a nightmare and I'd simply overslept.

During the first two weeks of my self-induced fear-based lockdown, I had organized a few lessons and walks. I wasn't really comfortable with either, but I wasn't ready to completely give up everything.  Most people wouldn't miss their croissant and cappucino at the bar every morning.  And they kept going to the gym which had closed and then reopened......and then closed again. And here I was afraid of a lesson at my 6-foot table and a walk on opposite sides of the street?  People thought I was crazy, and I agreed.   I thought they were crazy, and they disagreed.   

After two weeks my self-induced fear-based lockdown became a governmentally-induced provincial lockdown.  It sounded frightening to me.  But for many,  the only inconvenience of a lockdown issued by the government was the hassle of finding a new bar in their province.    

The lockdown officially kicked off yesterday.  It was the first of the next 26 days that I have nothing to organize (other than closets). But I think I've found the silver lining.  I've had the same to-do list for many, many years.  This is the perfect opportunity to just do it.  Then in years to come when I'm behind on my photo albums I can say, "The last time I did an album was during the Coronavirus." And if I really memorize a piece on the piano and I'm playing it at the train station in Venice when I arrive on a hot summer Thursday at  midnight I can say, "I learned it on the lockdown."  The list goes on and on and it sounds better all the time. What a beautiful scarf....it must have taken forever to knit. You've finally learned the 21 tenses in Italian. I've never seen such a well-organized armoire. Lockdown.  Lockdown.  Lockdown.

My enthusiasm grew throughout the day. As long as I could avoid the virus, I had big plans. I was sure my friends in nearby provinces were going to be envious of my provincial lockdown status.  Then surprisingly, a bit before midnight on our first day of lockdown, the decision makers that had pulled the all-nighter on Saturday changed the rules.  They put the whole country on lockdown.  So much for the happy graphic that depicts the Italian boot with red, green and white stripes. Now it's nothing but one big red zone.