OK, so that last entry where I said upgrading to orange zone from red would mean I could leave the "community"?   Well not so much.  It just means shops can open and we can travel around without our auto-certificates that explain why we are out and about.  So still no seeing anyone except GP, MIL and one little girl and her family.  Said little girl has been my student for over a year, starting before COVID.  I tutor her in Literacy and English.  This is the student I mentioned in an earlier post.  Every weekday I walk back and forth to their place which is about 40 minutes from here and gives me both exercise and time outside.  They are a true "modern family" as she's being raised by her grandfather, his wife, various his, hers and theirs young adult children and partners, an old granny that belongs to someone, a housekeeper, a couple of nannies or babysitters, (one at a time), a giant lab and the tiniest chihuahua I've ever seen.  By American standards their home is not that large but it seems to have endless rooms and entrances and I never know where people are popping in from.  I think at one time it may have been the stables and livery quarters for the enormous villa behind it.  I don't actually have anything to do with all these people apart from the little girl and her grandfather but I see the others passing by windows and going in and out of doorways on one of the attached ells.  This walk is often the highlight of my day and I'm p'd that it looks like a long stretch of rain coming up!  I DO NOT like walking in the rain.  Here are some pics from today's outing.

The Monastery next door to student's place

MonViso over Torino

Heading down the hill

Almost home.  Our neighborhood church.

Stay well, xxoo me

 I have a gardening client!  Our neighbor has a landscape business but doesn't do the small stuff.  In fact his tiny plot of land behind the condo is only raggedy grass and an overgrown yew.  I am trying to convince him to let me at it but to no avail.  He's like the plumber with a dripping faucet.  A client for whom he's done some tree work asked if he could clean out some flower beds and plant bulbs for next spring.  Their 80+ year old gardener has dug his last hole...  Eric passed my name on to them because if there is no power tool involved, he is not involved.  They live across the way which is very convenient.  They have a lovely big dog with a head like an anvil which is wonderful.  And they feed me cake which is the best!  Yay me!

The lock down has gotten the numbers in the area down to the point where we may go from "red zone" to "orange zone".  With that change I can actually leave town and take a walk with friends, none of whom I've seen yet.  It also means we could go to the mountains which has it's downside for me as it means that walking up thing.  Damn.

Stay well.  xxoo me

There's a lot of nothing going on over here.  I wake up mornings to the sound of men working two feet from my bed.  A little irksome.  Especially as I've seen them.  I've seen no friends as they all live in different towns though only a few minutes away.  I tutor a couple hours a day both in person and on line.  Apart from that I spend way too much time reading the news and getting more and more depressed about the future for my loved ones, the state of the US, the state of the World.....  

The November weather hasn't been helping my mood any.  In a frequently gray place November is the grayest month.  Yesterday we had lunch with MIL at her place.  As it is in a different town and we can only visit one at a time, we drove separately and arrived 15 minutes apart.  It's ridiculous but necessary.  People are being stopped and fined for breaking the lock down rules.  I parked in a square in front of the town's oldest and largest church.  On any normal Sunday the square would have been swarming with post mass talkers and walkers.  The bars would be open with people drinking coffee and aperitifs before going home to a long Sunday lunch.  Instead the church doors were locked tight.  There wasn't a soul to be seen.  These are gloomy days my friends!

Stay well.  xxoo Me

 So this is how things stand here.  We're in a red zone.  We're in lock down again though not as complete as last spring.  We are permitted to get out and exercise and more businesses are permitted to stay open but we are not permitted to socialize in any way shape or form.  I begin my tutoring today but as I'm working under the table I have no excuse to be going to my student's home.  I've decided, (as I have to lose weight after a calorie fueled summer in any case), that I will walk back and forth to my lesson and wear exercise clothes.  If I get stopped I'm out for a run.   Or a fast walk.  Or just a walk.  One look at my jiggly backside and they'll believe I need it.

When I left here at the beginning of July, workers were about to start painting our building.  Workers are still painting our building.  They have finished the front apart from some trim (and the possible repainting of the balconies because of some drama about the color which is a shade paler than the rest of the building).  They've set up scaffolding in the back on our terraces.  There's been drilling and banging and various men moving around outside my windows which can be quite disconcerting considering I sleep in the buff and tend to walk around in undies a lot.  I expect to hear screams of terror some day from some curious house painter.  That'll teach 'em.

Christmas is another worry.  European countries are closing borders and requiring quarantines.   Flights and trains have been cancelled.  Panic is setting in for the holidays.  The daughter may well not be able to come back for Christmas as she would then have to quarantine for two weeks upon returning to the UK.  As she has to work when she gets back, that's impossible.  So I may go there.  Being locked up for a couple weeks doesn't affect my life significantly.  That is IF I can get a flight and IF I am permitted into the UK.  I don't relish the idea of a wet, gray, lonely Christmas for the two of us in her apartment.  But the alternative would be leaving her there alone as her roommates will have left for a few weeks.  Maybe we'll do like the Jews in NYC and order Chinese food and watch movies.

So that's what it looks like on this side of the pond.  xxoo me

 Oh happy day!!!  The calls and e-mails have been coming in from European friends saying, "Well thank God THAT chapter of America is over."  I warned them we still have til January for Trump to put on his s@#% show.  It's amazing how relieved Italians are that Biden won.  The newscasters are giddy!  The first good thing 2020 has delivered.

Back to watching the news.  xxoo me

 AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!  AAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!  (Must distract myself.)  (Will write on blog.)

So we are in lock down again.  This time we are permitted to get out and exercise at least.  The priest at MIL's church has tested positive.  The same church where she volunteers every Monday in the office. She records the dead.  She's fine.  She's Teflon.  

AAAAAHHHHHHHHH!!!  AHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!  (Concentrate!)

 

The lovely rehab I did on my garden ain't looking so hot.  What the intense Italian sun didn't roast is weed covered.  When it clears up I'll get out and try to whip it back into shape.  We've also decided to repaint the apartment.  The fun never ends.

GAHHHHH!  AAAAHHHHHH!  NO NO NO NO!!!!!!  (Sorry.)

I've been back 3 nights.  I've already carved a hole in the wine supply.  My diet plans have tanked.  I may not survive 2020.

xxoo me

 I think my computer is haunted.  Or possessed.  It sounds as though there is a teeny squirrel behind the screen scratching and tapping to get out.  Quite worrisome.

Anywho.  I'm back!  I flew in yesterday from London.  The trip was one minor disaster after another.  It was my favorite flight from Stansted to Torino that leaves the UK at 6:40 am.  I have to leave Grace's place about 3 am to make it.  The bus I normally take to the airport was sold out as they are seating only 50% and I hadn't booked early enough.  I had to take a cab service.  Ryanair is cheap for a reason.  It's only worth it if you are flying with a toothbrush and a change in underwear.  NOT with a huge suitcase and a carry on.  I had paid for the suitcase ahead of time and tried to avoid the carry on by stuffing the suitcase full but it was overweight so had to take out a bag I have and pack that with the excess weight and then pay for a carry on as well.  My cheap flight wasn't so cheap anymore.  While lining up at the gate, all masked and paid up, a few of us were accosted by an airline employee for not wearing the appropriate mask required (as of 5 minutes earlier), (I'd checked the night before), to enter Italy.  It had to be the blue paper surgical type, not the pretty autumn themed double layered cotton one I was wearing.  No proper mask, no flight.  WTF?  Fortunately I asked around and one of the other passengers had an extra which she reluctantly gave me.  At the airport in Torino we were given three options:  to be tested immediately at the airport with results within 3 days thereby avoiding quarantine if one has negative results OR to be tested elsewhere and quarantined until a negative result is sent to the local authorities OR 14 days quarantine.  I was tested free of charge at the airport and will be contacted sometime in the next days.  It was quick and easy and free.  The quickest, easiest and free-ist part of my trip!

The squirrel is dead.  No more scratching.  Weird.

I will have much to keep me busy the next few days as I left GP alone here for 4 months and he's moved things and not kept up with my standards of tidiness.  He says it's orderly but it's HIS orderly, which is wrong, not MY orderly which is right.  

Have to go straighten out the flatware.  More tomorrow.

xxoo me