We are now well aware that we are experiencing an unprecedented situation. And while from our isolation, or collective quarantine, we are watching astonished this “thing” spreading relentlessly to other states. Spain and France are next, while the USA is quickly catching up.

No Peak Yet

Tonight they told us that we didn’t reach the peak as yet. We are more than ever urged to stay in. There is police on the streets and if you go out for no reason you may get a fine, and not a small one. Last Sunday the two main big parks in town were full of people claiming they needed a walk. “Una passeggiata.” The Major published a video asking people to stay home and sent out the police.

On a funny note, being on social media doing a public speech is not something that many majors were prepared to do, so some are quite funny!

However, it is strange to be out. Once you meet someone you exchange suspicious looks. A few days ago, I had mentioned with my son that I was considering a jog in the park, but he told me not to go, because if isolated I may encounter someone with bad intentions. I thought he had a point. 

Moreover, one major just scolded everybody by saying that suddenly we are all “athletes,” even the ones that until yesterday were just “potato-couch people.”

Being Home

But being home is not the problem really when you see what is going on. 

Why bend the rules in a moment like this? Yes, at first it was a bit as a surprise, being the first ones after China, but by now everybody should know that the best thing to do is #StayHome!

Besides, I really don’t know why some people want to go out. It is strange to be out. Once crossing paths with someone, exchanging suspicious looks, and if wearing a mask, it is difficult to guess if there is a smile behind it.

Stressed Out?

No, I’m not stressed out because I am confined at home, not when I see exhausted doctors and support medical staff working incredible hours, and hardly leaving their workplaces at all. Not when first aid people die from the contagion. No, my life is not stressful at all.

Instead, I’m going down on all those good NY resolutions lists I faithfully do every January and that seldom gets accomplished. Well, not this year! All those goals will be accomplished. … well maybe not all, but a good part.

NOTE: I had called that post “A Roaring 2020,” well, it is roaring alright!

Lockdown First Week

Now on our first week of lockdown, everything is at a standstill. All business, everything except supermarkets for groceries. Nothing else, besides pharmacies, which they served you from the night hours window, they won’t let you in. 

The sacrifices we are making already force us, more or less unconsciously, to look for a time horizon, a timeframe and think about when it will end.

Our PM Giuseppe Conte is managing this unprecedented situation with dignity. Now Italy has closed everything. The government decree sets the deadline of April 3 for restrictions on movements because such extraordinary impositions can only have an expiration date. But it is entirely illusory to think that on April 3 our lives can start normally.