Corona in Cortona… Isolation in Italy…..Covid Chronicles…. part 7
Wednesday 1st — Saturday 4th April …. Days 22–25…. Suck it Up!
Wednesday April 1st… Day 22
Throughout the history of mankind, rainbows have been thought by many civilisations, communities, and indeed religions, as a sign of hope.Originally thought to be caused by reflection, then later by refraction, the phenomena of rainbows, are always something special to see, but relatively rare.
@ caledonenterprise.com
They were adopted as a symbol for the gay pride movement, and also of course the ‘rainbow nation’ of South Africa. Rainbows are for some people thought of as a bridge, and when I started as a volunteer at our local stray dogs kennels, I learned that for animal lovers, the rainbow bridge is often imagined as their bridge to a better life when they depart this one. Now, in this strange surreal time, rainbows have become the sign of support, togetherness, love, and of course hope. All over Italy childrens paintings are displayed; in shops, attached to balconies, in fact, anywhere and everywhere — a wonderful symbol of unity and hope for the future.
I did ‘pinch, punch, first of the month’ with Busta — who, not surprisingly, ignored me completely. But I still fell for it, when my friend Priscilla, (newsletter editor extraordinaire), who is the source of all information in these days of lockdown, sent me yet another form! I only discovered when I went to print it out that it was an April Fool’s joke!
The Olympics are ‘postponed’, despite the torch having already been lit; and Wimbledon has now been cancelled. Tennis is one of my passions. Many moons ago I was a line judge, and I remember, in particular, being on court with two ‘bad boys’ of the time… Jimmy Connors and Boris Becker. They frequently challenged calls, and were known to sometimes pick on a female line judge — thankfully I escaped relatively unscathed.
@ Hazel Murray… Wimbledon 1992, from ‘Capital London — Focus from the Flying Eye’ ISBN 0–304–34338–2 ………. A very novice line judge approx 1985
Later, Capital Radio got me to interview various players, including the likes of Nastase, Arthur Ashe, Stan Smith and even John Newcombe — he somehow managed to tip his chair back, half over the balcony we were on, grabbing hold of me and pulling me with him. He milked the moment — I didn’t mind!
When I joined Sky, I was able to the live weather broadcasts from Wimbledon, but only from the carpark.
Roger Taylor @ en.wikipedia.org
I had to stand on a box, so that the camera shot made it look as though I was actually inside. For the first year or so, the sports reporter had to do the same thing, and one day Roger Taylor came to be interviewed.
He was always the favourite of my mum and I when I was young, and he was still just as handsome as ever. He was charming, and I cannot quite remember how, but I ended up having a drink with him in the Last 8 Club inside the grounds — several dreams come true at the same time!
Thursday April 2 — Day 23
I decided to tackle the dreaded duvet this morning. Putting on a new cover really is a two-person job, but needs must. After ten minutes struggle, I had more or less achieved it, until I realised that I had put it in sideways. Finally, after a second try, I was very pleased with myself — all done. Two hours later I went into the bedroom to find the cat been sick on it!
Fiorellina (Fifi) snuggling @ Hazel Murray
I need a man!! Well it could be a good strong woman… just an extra pair of hands. Not so easy when we are all in lockdown, and the last 24-hours or so have been somewhat testing on the DIY front, to say the least. I have a very small above ground swimming pool in the back garden, and the other day I realised that there was so much rainwater on top of the winter cover, that either the cover itself was going to rip, or the rope which attached it around the circumference of the pool, was going to stretch even more, and either which way, the horrible green foetid water lying on top of the cover was about to deposit itself into the clean water below.
Something had to be done. I wasn’t prepared to suck the water up a length of tubing to start the draining process, the way the macho men do it. I admire them for it, and its quicker that way — but I just couldn’t. Instead though, I managed to work out a system, using a jug, to fill the whole tube with water, (instead of the sucking technique). Then, having put a cork in one end, I stuck the open end in the dirty water and lowered the corked end to the ground, removed the cork and it started to flow — well on the third attempt it did.
Yuk!! @ Hazel Murray
And it drained for the next four hours. I got myself thoroughly dirty and really quite wet but at least I avoided falling into the yucky water which was an achievement in itself.
I do earnestly hope though that the electricity and Wi-Fi keep on going, I really would be lost without them, and certainly they are well beyond the scope of what I can fix.
Saturday April 4 — Day 24
I have been at the computer for far too long in previous days, and my back neck and shoulders are a real mess; scrunched up and painful. The good news though is that my yoga teacher Judith has decided to give a lesson by Zoom. I was sure I was going to mess up the technical bit but in the end it all fell into place. The only real problem was lack of floor space. Judith said that there was a bit of a table leg in her view of me; she should worry — I was under the table and in danger of knocking myself out on it.
Yoga in Lockdown @ Judith Ross
Judith took the lesson from her house about half an hour away from me, and we had one student in Assisi. Plus, we had someone in England — she was helped by her two toddlers; I was being aided by four dogs wanting to join in; and in Umbria a whole litter of kittens was getting in on the act. Surprisingly, it all went extremely well!
A couple of hours later, I had my second Zoom experience with my old friend Lisa Burke. We were weather presenters at together at Sky News, and she is now based in Luxembourg. She has set up a channel for interviews in English for the expat population there, and when I sent her a link to this journal, she decided she wanted to interview me about life in Italy.
https://vimeo.com/406472467?ref=fb-share&fbclid=IwAR0bi1T3K8gsu5zulkSU0Yvl_RUEYEC0mdTD-6Tpamk3Gj-mfgDz-4OOp6Q ………… @ Lisa Burke
We actually did much more chatting than anything else, but the interview got done too. This necessitated a tidy up of the limonaia, including sorting out all my seed trays. I do not have a good record with seeds, I forget to water them, or I drown them. I am currently nurturing cornflowers, nigella, verbena bonariensis and parsnips, although I think the latter may have failed already. Like many Brits here, round about Christmas time, I get a desperate yearning for roast parsnips. I did grow a few one year, rather small and misshapen, but so delicious. Last year though, I forgot to water them and my tiny crop failed.
Other things missed by local Brits, and carried over in the suitcases of friends, are Marmite, Birds custard powder (why?), Heinz Beans, and good ingredients for a curry. For me, it is taramasalata. You would think, being so close to Greece, that it would not be too hard to find, but certainly around here, no one has heard of it. Hummus is quite common, but even by my standards, (very low), that is fairly easy to make at home. When I first came here, fourteen years ago, other things, entirely unknown, were avocados, sweet potatoes, sour cream, and fruit of the more exotic kind. In the larger cities maybe they were on offer, I don’t know.
@ Agrodolce
At the time, I was glorying in the local cuisine, so really not missing anything too much. I think it’s only after a few years that the yearning starts to set in, and these days there is so much more on offer. Let’s face it though, you really can’t beat homegrown Italian tomatoes still warm from the garden, with mozzarella di buffala and fresh basil; possibly washed down with a little local vino. Who could ask for more?
