The day offered a wide variety for all you weather-watchers, out there. It was nippy and partly cloudy, sultry and warm, spring blue-skied clear, and is ending with a rip-roaring electrical storm. Something for everyone.
My day began last night when the glasses I wear before contacts go in (and which I use to see them and unfold them after a hard night in their containers) fell apart into a useless heap. I fretted how I would explain to Diego what I had in mind to replace them. I just wanted magnifiers I could use for casual morning reading, and every now and then to wear instead of contacts. Both my eyes take 2.0 lenses, so that would work fine. I found an old pair of teeny-tiny reading glasses from fifteen years ago that I brought with me when I moved here, for reasons forgotten, tested them (sort of) and brought them with me as an example of glasses that worked, if they were only larger. I found being out of the house with blurred vision rather upsetting, and felt whacky to boot, but Diego got it immediately, and gave me more or less what I requested.
The more or lesses of life are fraught with difficulties.
The glasses are either too strong or too weak, I hate the style, and were too fancy (and therefore expensive). I discovered none of this until I arrived home (except the price). They did help, however, to get my contacts in. So now, I can fret about taking full blame and convincing Diego to exchange them for something I actually want.
After a rest, I went to see Maria on her first morning back in her weaver’s studio. We chatted briefly, I had a quick lunch at Montanucci, then returned for a more substantial catch up. Then at 15:30 we both met Massimo at the first apartment viewing of the day, a brand new restoration, nicely furnished, just below Piazza del Duomo; very comfy. The second was across town just off Via Pecorelli, larger, good light, and the smallest elevator in Italy. The last was on Piazza dei Erbi and I can only describe it as a nineteenth century tart. The first two will give me something to think about. The last one gives me food for thought, too, but let’s not go there.
Maria and I walked more, I had gelato, she had coffee, we discussed serious stuff and the importance of work. She had expected to miss her loom, she had not expected to miss her shop. She missed both. I told her about the series of WhatsApp chats I had with my friend who is helping to produce online and safe-distanced theatre events, and how it made me miss something, too. For both of us it was missing the exercise of our skills, but it was also interaction with others, of being integral to a community.
Officially Phase Two began May 5. Yesterday, most businesses were open. Travel restrictions here have been lifted in certain categories. During my first visit with Maria, two couples from Modena, who had stopped here for lunch on their way to Rome, bought scarves. Unfortunately for them, all the restaurants they were familiar with have not yet opened for lunch. But they now have lovely scarves to take home. So, I’m not sure this is Day Zero of post-lockdown in any official way, but it doesn’t feel like a lockdown, anymore. It feels like a welcome step towards a more social life, and a scary step, too.
As I left Maria, we paused over the mandatory bottle of hand gel. She shook my hand. My first human contact since very early March, maybe hers, too. We smiled, then both gelled up as we said our (very Italian) series of goodbyes.
So, in honor of what we hope is a turning of the tide, my daily report ends here. I’ll still post from time to time as the experiences of a day merit, but the regular evening journal has been completed. It was a joy to hear your comments, to know that during the isolation someone was still listening, and writing this has kept me sane. Thank you.
Be careful, stay well, and keep in touch,
David, in Orvieto.