Day 18 Lock-down Codiponte...
You know when the weather gal or guy gives the forecast and they say…
The temperature outside,folks, is a bracing 37F degrees. Bundle-up! And with that cold Northeast wind blowing now after the last weekend’s system passed out to the Atlantic, the Chill Factor makes the temps feel like a bone-shivering 30F degrees.
Well, what with Coronavirus info overload… could be worse than the actual virus?… newscasters and Internet news sites should caption any Coronavirus report with a Coronavirus Factor or Index. I will in the meantime. For instance, take yesterday’s shocker…
Buckingham Palace announced the Prince of Wales tested positive for Coronavirus. He is displaying some symptoms but otherwise remains in good health. We want to extend our Best Wishes to Prince Charles and to Camilla, the Duchess of Cornwall, who tested negative. They are in self-isolation in Balmoral. We would like to alert our viewing public of a Coronavirus Factor of… a sick sinking feeling, -100 for this news item.
If you are at all worried about the Queen who is in self-isolation at Windsor Castle with the Duke of Edinburgh, the CF will hit a -3,457… we cannot muster the words.
Let’s see how this CF will work…
We certainly have had reports this week. Numbers on infected and deaths unexpectedly spiked last Monday, while over the weekend they looked to be on their way down. I would give the news a CF of -150. That ought to cover the stress alone, if not a sense of impending doom.
The PM and government responded promptly with a new decree and quickly signed into law upping considerably fines & penalties for not staying at home. Fines now run from €400 to €3,000… or, about $433 to $ 3,352. Which fine price point depends upon several factors: the circumstances of your capture, the moods of the Carabinieri and, how far afield you had managed to sneak away to before being captured, and did you have the Coronavirus form filled out, etc. If you are caught breaking quarantine… shame on you!!!… up to 5 years in jail. Right on! I give this a CF of -2. Less than for Prince Charles, I know, but you see, I’m not keen on fines. Rebel American. And, I’ve got to slip out of Codiponte later to make a furtive run to the D’Oro grocery store. I am out of white wine! The store has the best price to selection of any supermarket in the Lunigiana. There is no other place to go to. None of the local alimentary have good wines. They also have no stock either on anything else I might need. For instance, bread. The little convenience shop in Codiponte habitually orders bread for the few but regular clients, all residents of our fair village. By the way, did you see the piazzetta all done up nicely in my previous blog post? Shame on you if you haven’t!!! So, by the time I think… Oh, gosh,! need bread… at 11:30AM… there’s none. Early Bird catches the loaf? I went early the next day and what was on hand was completely reserved. I did not go back a third time. I want my D’Oro! As for white wine… I am sorry, friends. I know we are experiencing an unprecedented Global health crisis and, everyone must do their part. My part, staying at home with a wired Weimaraner and without the benefit of Dottore You presence requires white wine. AND I DO NOT DRINK WINE FROM A CARTON. No discussion.
Damned, if the numbers for infected and deaths spiked again yesterday… a CF of -500, severe sense the light at the end of the tunnel has been lockdowned too.
Late Breaking News… The government is discussing an amendment to extend the State of Emergency until July 31st.
What? An immediate CF of -2,000. Without a doubt. My head is spinning. I feel weak. Psychologically constipation has hit and from too much isolation. Mental & emotional fatigue. You name it, I am feeling it, etc. Let’s make the CF -2,500. At his rate, the CF rating will expire from lack of numerals.
So much for that. Onwards…
I have notice a plethora of Italian flags about. What a fine show of solidarity in this Time of crisis. I give it a CF of +200. Warms the heart to see such an united front, doesn’t it?
Meanwhile, raising Moral is our friends over at Radio Subasio… Florence, Tuscany, Italy… which continues to rock us & roll us with an unceasing spectacular medley of Italian Greatest Hits. Naturally, the station’s CF would be +1,000,000… Yes, we are going to win this for sure. My favourite… and there are so many to choose from… is by Nek… yes, a weird Italian nickname but, he’s cute and HUGELY poplulare with our Spanish speaking brothers & sister… now experiencing the absolute s**t of Coronavirus… with his fantastic rendition of a song by Mina… Do you know of Mina? A GODDESS OF SONG. Take Barbara Streisand… tut-tut… and multiply her by 100. I will leave you…
Enjoy!
P.S. I braved the confines of lockdown and drove out in the great big world of lockdown to do some errands and did not run into a road-block or control. Thank the Good Lord! I went to the D’Oro grocery store, Miow-Bau pet store, a tabaccheria to pick up a package left by UPS, hit an ATM and, la piece de la resistance, stopped at my nursery to buy some necessary plants for if & when the fierce Russian winds abate long enough for me to sink the plants into Mother Earth.
Yes, I am a lockdown breaker but, it was vitaly important I go… NO WHITE WINE!!!
Day 15 Lock-down Codiponte...
The weather today? Sunny, bright, and very windy. Thus, quite cold.
But let’s go back to yesterday, Day 14 of the Coronavirus Lock-down Codiponte…
Lovely. Like the previous week, the day was irresistibly sunny, warm and heading towards hot by Noon, the village of Codiponte resting in silence but for the chirping of birds and the rushing noise of the Aulella River. No truck traffic. An irresistible invitation to gather up the Croesus-puppy… perennially eager to escape the from house or garden at any opportunity… pack-up my camera into its metallic green back-pack and head to the chestnut groves above Acqua Paradiso. There was a particular spot I wanted to investigate…
a dirt road off the Cascian Road at Codiponte’s New Bridge… built in the 1970’s when car traffic exceeded the one-way capacity of what is today the recently renovated roller-coast of the village’s famous Medieval Bridge. Codiponte is dialect for at the head of the bridge… is the communal tract leading past abandoned fields, vineyards and olive groves arriving at the natural spring called Acqua Paradiso. There, is a network of paths lacing together Codiponte to other villages and isolated houses in these parts. The tract is a pretty straight affair until, at a fork, it begins to gently twist & turn until it reaches the spring. More forks in the road. Two ways to go: one is to go straight past the spring and an accompanying Madonnina, which resembles a WWII bunker sawed off at the front and accessorized with the Italian’s love of pots full of colorful plastic flowers, slowly rising up and along the long spine of hills towards the North and dominating the Aulella River below or, the other is to hang a hard left and go up, up… up. Either path cuts pass acres and acres of forgotten chestnut groves. An agricultural cemetery.
The Puppy took the hard left at the stone shack happily anticipating the very trail I intended to take. The left hand one up, up… up. It’s a steep climb. On one side are magnificently brightly green moss covered low walls, once-upon-a-time gutters for the equally once-upon-a-time torrential rain-falls here in the Lunigiana, and on the other side, the ghosts of dead chestnut trees disguised by thousands of saplings and roving vines ambitiously disregarding the former live tenants on the terraced slopes. Near the peak of the ascent is an orderly tract to the right. Puppy was waiting for me, a stick in his mouth. He shot up the trail and vanished and I slowly followed holding for balance the camera mounted on its tripod ready to shoot.
Someone has been clearing the slopes to the left of undergrowth and felling trees for what I am sure will be firewood. All to the right, however, is untouched, a plateau of gnarled, crusty chestnut trees, one even imprisoned within the vestiges of a stone shack.
While Puppy scavenged for a better stick and when finding one he lays down to chew away his Wiemaraner neurosis, as I walked the groves. I see a view, plant the tripod, and shoot. I lose myself. The pressure-cooker existence of the Coronavirus forgotten in the mouth gaping beauty of these old trees, useless but for their aesthetics, and probably only to me. I love the spaces between the imaginary King, Bishops and pawns spread out on the plateau or arranged years ago on wide terraces roughed by now from too much neglect and rain. My iPhone squeales and I am quickly brought back to the dictator of our present predicament…
A friend in Holland wrote of the crisis as surreal. A good word for just about anywhere in the world these days of an unbelievable, fantastic, an intense irrationally reality. For instance…
I am quiet. Content, even. Unusual for me. Am a nervous sort. Much like my pup. I work in the garden at il Poggiolo pleased with progress on its yearly Spring-time submission to be rid of the vestiges of Winter. I take the Dog on walks. Croesus has a large collection of sticks, none of which are of any interest to him. I photograph was appeals. Savoring more the exercise of manipulating the camera than the actual result. I lie. I am very interested in the result but, have not mastered the art of the camera, as yet. The 50’s style refrigerator in la Casetta is full of my favourite feel-good foods… gorgonzola, big thick chicken hot-dogs, every salad washed & stuffed into a plastic pouch and tons of white wine! Out on the shelf-unit are potato-chips, pasta and more white wine! And, Thank the Good Lord, I am easily connected with friends & family… the world over… through my offensively expensive iPhone 11 Pro… this is not to show-off but, to share my shame… and an Apple Macbook which cost about the same, damn-it. Whatsapp and telephone exchanges consist of good-naturedly Lock-down Top This… Oh, everything’s closed here… Hospitals are over-loaded and there are no masks, gloves and supplies… I can go to the grocery store and the bank and pet store for cans of Pedigree for the pooch… Dottore You got stopped by the police asking why he was away from home. He was sent back fearing a fine in the mail of Euro 350…. I go out with the Dog and see n’er a soul… and finally, many friends but, especially a girl-friend in Genoa, sends me the most ridiculously funny videos and sayings to keep me laughing… https://youtu.be/-AZ_PRNilv0 and https://youtu.be/FgSlKbVh1SQ…
on the other side of the coin, the simplicity of confinement is continually crushed by the only company to be had beyond the Dog of the late-breaking Internet news and daily emails from the United States Department of State stating that is their want… You didn’t leave when we told you to do so 21 days ago, so now, live with it. Could there be a new syndrome in the offing? Coronavirus Confinement Conflicts? Maybe…
Came home and fixed a yummy grilled cheese sandwich, a side of potato-chips and a Coke-cola and took it up to the Loggia of the Casa Grande for an open-air lunch while addictively checking the latest news. KA-KA-KA-BOOM!!! RAI News 24’s headliner was…
Stricter measures ordered by government to combat Coronavirus.
Turn-of-the-screw or, the fire is raise for the pressure cooker? I don’t know but I could do with a Mauritius vacation on the double. However, and in light of those stricter measures, I will have to find liberation or solace with white wine, potato-ships and Netflixs. Are you game?