Last Thursday when I went to the Meta (Sainsbury’s express equivalent) I had to join a socially distanced queue to get in and I had a flashback to the first lockdown.

It wasn’t the first reminder (Al has been on furlough for a few weeks now) and it won’t be the last. The numbers in Italy remain terrifyingly high and this weekend our region of Emilia Romagna moved from yellow to amber. There were new regional rules: the open air markets could open but with tighter restrictions on numbers and direction of flow (dedicated in and out areas) and some “non-essential” shops were closed. The gyms, museums and cinemas were already closed. Now only one person from a household can go to get groceries, with the familiar caveats for people who need to be accompanied and children. Interregional travel had been stopped with few exceptions, Language schools have been instructed to move to online teaching. You can’t do exercise in the city centre, but you can use the parks. So, we could still go anywhere we want within the region and could go out and have lunch which led to us feeling we were in an almost Lockdown 2.0 but not quite.

It had been a hard week. Al discovered, not unexpectedly, that his restaurant will not reopen after furlough. I am struggling to find students and now feel that I should really only teach online where possible. Luckily, the language school where I teach a couple of conversation classes has moved online so I can continue with those lessons. There is nothing yet to say I can’t continue to teach face to face, but I feel that more people will want online lessons. Friday was a day of tough conversations, soul searching and strategizing so we decided to treat ourselves to an Aperitivo at Mamalo Cafe which is just down the road. It’s quite pubby and local and we like it for that. We had the ubiquitous Spritz con Campari and were brought a plate of nibbles. The owner recognises us and although there hasn’t been much in the way of conversation, we feel welcome.

Saturday morning, we woke up to the realisation that Bologna city (comune) was bringing in tougher restrictions than the region. Bars and restaurants were to be closed except for takeaway starting from Sunday. Open air markets and non-essential shops were closed. Al had been planning to go to some restaurants with his CV, in case any of them needed staff, but now they were all being closed. It’s difficult not to feel downhearted and a little bit thwarted by life.

Our plan, such as it was, was to have this experience while I wrote my novel and Al learned different aspects of Italian cooking, then to return to the UK and start our own food business. It all feels very far away now and quite remote. The writing has not been easy and always seemed to be underscored by my own inability to prioritise what I love doing and practical considerations like earning enough money. The hospitality industry around the world, like so many other industries, has been decimated and while getting a new job for Al is the priority, starting a food business in the UK feels unlikely in the short term. I know, there has been a global pandemic and no one asked for this, no one’s lives are unchanged, but I am feeling self-indulgently down right now.

However, we are well. This experience, certainly since March, might not be what we had planned for this year, but it has meant we were able to have some amazing experiences in places that would usually have been out of our price range, or too full of tourists or both. We have taken advantage of the lack of tourists to see new parts of Italy and experience new things. It is unlikely that anyone will experience an empty St Marks square like that again. We are in an incredibly privileged position that has allowed us this once in a lifetime experience and to guard ourselves against the dramatic ups and downs that has been 2020 so far, its not done yet and I don’t want to be complacent, we are still in a good place, in a beautiful country.

Luckily for us our favourite central bar, Astral put up a post on Saturday to say that they were having a final opening between 3 and 6 that afternoon. We headed down there to support them and drink great beer and wine whilst being super careful about masks, hand sanitizer and social distancing. Astral has been our most regular spot, the guys that run it are knowledgeable and friendly and we feel very at home there. We don’t know how long it will be before we can go out to bars and restaurants again, but as they reminded us when we were there, Astral are still offering delivery for the duration.

So, the future won’t be the one we imagined, so what? It will be different that’s all. There will be new opportunities and options that we couldn’t have dreamed of before. If we keep moving forward with our eyes open who knows what will happen. We’re going to get through this lock down like we did the last one. The world will still turn. Life is going to be tough for everyone for a while, so we need to look after each other, keep our chin up and, when its time, head out into the world and be what happens next.

As I look out of my window to write this the low autumn sun is casting long shadows in the estate next door, I haven’t seen a deer yet, but I am hopeful. The light this week has had a lovely golden quality which picks out the changing leaf colours as well as the edges of buildings and portico features. I am reminded again how lucky we are to be here in Bologna, Italy in this crazy year as we teeter on the brink of further virus control restrictions. As this year has highlighted, there is risk in making any future plans or predictions, but this means that there has never been a better time to appreciate now and be grateful for what you have.

Dejavu

There is no doubting that where we are right now feels like a rerun of March. Al is furloughed again until December at the earliest, although this time there is the menacing shadow of permanent closure. This is sitting hand in hand with the worry that restaurants are not hiring at the moment and that the hospitality industry is in serious trouble everywhere. My teaching had started to pick up since I took advice about turning self-employed but I have already had requests to switch from in the home to online lessons for some students and I don’t know how successful that can be for six to eight year olds. My hope that the Language schools would start to recover and begin hiring again has been quietly dropped for the time being. The main difference this time is that the threat and the worry never really lifted so it lacks the surprise and surrealism and has, instead, been more of a creeping inevitability that hope alone could not keep at bay.

Count your blessings

There are, of course, plenty of things to be thankful for. We are both healthy, our families are safe and well and, so far, we have been spared much direct personal tragedy from this illness. The novel is, finally, cracking on a pace although it seems to be disrupting the blog flow, so apologies about that. I am hopeful of having a draft finished for the end of the year if all goes well. Al has decided to divert his attentions into guitar practice and baking again so although I had only just made a dent in tackling the lockdown weight gain, I am about to start being fed delicious baked treats again. Time to up the exercise before we are required to stay in the house, perhaps I need to start attending your online Pilates evening classes too Chrissy May?

Autumn in Bologna

Spring and Autumn are undoubtedly the best seasons in Bologna. We missed a lot of spring due to the first lockdown so it has been lovely to see summer give way to autumn. It seemed as if the weather knew when the month turned as the first day of September featured rain finally after weeks of dry weather and rainless thunderstorms. The leaves started to change colour and, with the conkers, began to drop. It’s chestnut season right now so you see chestnut roasters in the city streets. Everyday I get updates from Apennines discovery about the beautiful landscapes on our doorsteps so we decided to take advantage of the dry clear weather and went for a walk in the hills at the grotte di labante this weekend. The museums were still open so we trotted along to the musical instruments museum a week or two ago and to the Monet exhibition that is on at the moment. You have to book in advance and wear your mask, of course, but for both exhibitions we were able to get in for free with our Bologna Welcome cards.

The restaurants and bars we have been going to have always been great at sticking to the rules and making sure there are socially distanced tables, hand sanitizer, mask wearing, table service and high levels of cleanliness so it does seem a shame that there has been a national ruling about this because of venues that were not, but to this end all bars and restaurants are being closed at 6pm now, so we have been trying to show support by having the occasional lunch out, as our more limited resources allow.

The treasures at hand

This past week or so I have been trying to remember to take photos while I am out so I can capture the many hidden gems and famous beauties of this magical city as we move through the year. Every time I go to write this blog I am struck by the things I forgot to take pictures of or don’t seem to have ever captured. Partly this is because I am busy enjoying these things in real time, but although a photo can never capture the reality of being somewhere they are useful in that they give people who weren’t there a glimpse into what it was like and are good prompts for the memory later. It seems my memory could use all the prompts it can get.

Next phase

As I conclude this post Italy has just announced a tier rating for restrictions. Bologna is a green zone so we have the least amount of additional measures applied. Most of the new restrictions don’t really affect us: 10pm to 5am curfew, High schools moved to 100% online teaching, travel between regions is restricted. Milan and other cities are in Red Zones and so have the highest additional measures, which is difficult but understandable given the current situation. So we settle in as autumn moves to winter, we will continue to minimise our going out to exercise, shopping for essentials and work (while there is still some), wearing our masks and washing our hands often when we do so. Stay safe out there and keep well.