Rome Coronavirus Lockdown

When life gives you lemons ... make lemon marmalade. The English College garden has three lemon trees that give a good amount of fruit. But as the students are away and correspondingly Gin & Tonic consumption is down this fruit was is danger of being left to rot. So having a little more time on my hands than normal I made lemon marmalade. I annually make marmalade from the oranges that grow in the parks and colleges so I knew the drill , but it was satisfying nonetheless.  It’s the kind of thing lots of people are doing. Enda, my flatmate, has begun a sourdough since lockdown and is now turning out a couple of loaves every few days. So when we get to the breakfast table after our 7am Mass we have homemade bread and marmalade with fresh Italian coffee- it is the best.  It is interesting how quickly one adapts, falls into a new routine, and, in an odd way, how comfortable it all becomes: run at 6, Mass at 7, breakfast and to work ... in my sitting room. Lunch at 1:30, b...

Each day Rome has become quieter. Although workmen are still at work the streets get quieter everyday and more shops close. In the Campo dei Fiori there was just on fruit and veg stall left on Tuesday and when I ran through on Wednesday morning there was no one, no stalls setting up at all. My favourite ricotta and pecorino shop in Trastevere, a family run place, told me on Saturday that they could not keep going and would close for 15 days. Even though such places are allowed to open as food shops, trade is so slow it simply isn't worth their while. The virus also comes ever closer. This week a good friend at home has self isolated with a cough. One of the people who connected with our Caravita "Zoom" retreat last weekend told us he had self-isolated with the virus. One of our colleagues from work, Sr. Filomena, now has symptoms and another colleague who worked with her is also quarantined. Today my brother messaged to say that his granddaughter has a cough and so the...