Day 2
Day 2 of the Rome lockdown (don’t worry, I’m not planning to keep this up!).
Today things were noticeably quieter. The local workmen are still doing their thing- digging and filling holes behind our building. But there are fewer people on the streets.
It strikes me that Coronavirus is making Italians behave in ways that are quite unnatural to them. It is as if two parts of their nature are working against each other. The first part is their hypercondriac-ism, their dread of the colpa d'aria (the draft) which is the source of almost every illness. This dread has now transferred on to the distanza di sicurezza, that is the designated safe distance of 1 metre which we are supposed to maintain between ourselves and others. This has been taken up almost fanatically. And so Italians who are often wander around with a solipsistic disregard for anyone else who might have to share the same bit of pavement or street, are suddenly hyper-aware of every on-comer, and carefully plot a trajectory that maintains maximum distance. Secondly, Italians have learnt to queue- with lines stretching round blocks from the door of a chemist that will only allow three people to enter at a time. As an Anglo-Saxon you want to say, "You see, you can do it when you try!"
One area where some are letting their guard down, literally, is the face mask. Many still wear them but lower them to speak on the phone or smoke a cigarette and then forget to replace them. They seem an early indication of people tiring of the special measures.
Today after the morning's work I had an appointment for Spiritual Direction over at Sant'Anselmo on the Aventino. That meant a walk along the river in the afternoon sun. The entrance to Sant'Anselmo is next to the famous keyhole view of St Peter's through the garden of the Knights of Malta. There was a queue of a half dozen people but all maintaining the distanza di sicurezza. When I came out there were only a couple there, and as there is normally a good fifty waiting I realised this was my best ever chance to take the iconic photo on my phone.
Afterwards I went to the supermarket which is in a basement under a department store. Here a store worker was only allowing customers to enter when someone came out. In the end I went to two supermarkets and as you can see there were some bare shelves. Salvini and others has been demanding a stricter shutdown and so there is some evidence either of panic buying or of food supplies being effected by the disruption. So there was very little milk, all the tinned beans etc. were cleared, as were the tomato passata sauces, and butter. On the way back at about 5pm I passed through Piazza Santa Maria in Trastevere and it was deserted.
Today, despite the measures, the infection and death figures again jumped alarmingly. As I write this Enda has just informed me that Conte has announced stricter measures: all shops except pharmacies and food shops to close from tomorrow.
Today things were noticeably quieter. The local workmen are still doing their thing- digging and filling holes behind our building. But there are fewer people on the streets.
It strikes me that Coronavirus is making Italians behave in ways that are quite unnatural to them. It is as if two parts of their nature are working against each other. The first part is their hypercondriac-ism, their dread of the colpa d'aria (the draft) which is the source of almost every illness. This dread has now transferred on to the distanza di sicurezza, that is the designated safe distance of 1 metre which we are supposed to maintain between ourselves and others. This has been taken up almost fanatically. And so Italians who are often wander around with a solipsistic disregard for anyone else who might have to share the same bit of pavement or street, are suddenly hyper-aware of every on-comer, and carefully plot a trajectory that maintains maximum distance. Secondly, Italians have learnt to queue- with lines stretching round blocks from the door of a chemist that will only allow three people to enter at a time. As an Anglo-Saxon you want to say, "You see, you can do it when you try!"
One area where some are letting their guard down, literally, is the face mask. Many still wear them but lower them to speak on the phone or smoke a cigarette and then forget to replace them. They seem an early indication of people tiring of the special measures.
Today after the morning's work I had an appointment for Spiritual Direction over at Sant'Anselmo on the Aventino. That meant a walk along the river in the afternoon sun. The entrance to Sant'Anselmo is next to the famous keyhole view of St Peter's through the garden of the Knights of Malta. There was a queue of a half dozen people but all maintaining the distanza di sicurezza. When I came out there were only a couple there, and as there is normally a good fifty waiting I realised this was my best ever chance to take the iconic photo on my phone.
Afterwards I went to the supermarket which is in a basement under a department store. Here a store worker was only allowing customers to enter when someone came out. In the end I went to two supermarkets and as you can see there were some bare shelves. Salvini and others has been demanding a stricter shutdown and so there is some evidence either of panic buying or of food supplies being effected by the disruption. So there was very little milk, all the tinned beans etc. were cleared, as were the tomato passata sauces, and butter. On the way back at about 5pm I passed through Piazza Santa Maria in Trastevere and it was deserted.
Today, despite the measures, the infection and death figures again jumped alarmingly. As I write this Enda has just informed me that Conte has announced stricter measures: all shops except pharmacies and food shops to close from tomorrow.
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