Love (& life) in the time of Corona virus

With a nod to the brilliant Gabriel Garcia-Marquez whose title I shamefully borrowed and updated for our troubling times.

But history (and literature) repeat themselves.

Today’s Italy is beginning to feel like Florentino and Fermina’s unnamed city (Cartagena) in their unnamed Latin American country (Colombia).

The lock-down has moved from Italy’s north to the whole Italian peninsula and its islands.

Chaotic Rome is now quiet, with few tourists and most Roman sticking close to home.

Theatres and cinemas are closed. Gyms, tracks and pools are shuttered. Cafes and bars must close by 6 pm. Children are home from school and many adults are teleworking.

We are becoming adept at standing in line (a meter apart) for supermarkets and pharamacies, and Italian greetings of handshakes or kisses on the cheeks have been replaced with elbow taps.

Personally, an early morning jog helps me from succumbing to cabin fever. As quarantine rules tighten, let’s hope that’s still allowed.

If not, we’ll adapt.

Let’s hope we can see out this quarantine as quickly as possible. and end the spread of this disease. Until then, it’s #LockdownItaly.

Life is definitely very strange in the time of Corona virus …