Day 23: Tunnel vision
I need new slippers
I expected more from March, but at least made it through, which means that we should now be entering the last part of the long, seemingly endless, quarantine tunnel here in Italy. Just when I was getting used to it!
I don’t know if any of you ever play games when passing through tunnels in a car, but my game of choice is making a wish and holding my breath from one end to the other. I think I saw this in some Disney film, which makes it entirely legitimate. If you manage to hold your breath throughout the length of the tunnel, your wish will come true. Of course, this is highly risky business, especially when you don’t know how long the tunnel can be, and knowing that the lights at the end of the tunnel could very well be the headlights of the approaching train. But life is all about taking risks, and at least in the life we are living right now, trains are not one of the main threats we should be concerned about.
Another tunnel-car game I was recently taught by a friend was to start playing a song on a radio of your choice, and wait for the signal to disappear as you enter the tunnel. Your challenge is to keep up with the tempo and lyrics of the song until you’re out and the signal returns. Of course, this game can be adjusted and played in quarantine, by simply putting a song on, then putting it on mute, and then wait for a considerable amount of time to pass until you put the volume back up. I could be wrong, but isn’t this all sounding like a marvelous metaphor for life in quarantine itself?
I think I have given you enough food for your fantasies of being in a car for today, so let’s leave it at that. If you dream of tunnels tonight, make sure you don’t look up Melanie Klein’s play therapy practices tomorrow.
Today was a strange day, so I tried to do some feel-good shopping. I realised that my wardrobe was very well armed for this period, offering me a variety of options from the ankles up, but it was severely lacking in the most important household footwear one could own at the moment (AKA slippers). I now realise why my mum has been asking me for over a year to source the same slippers I bought her back in 2018, which got completely obliterated after weeks of housework (I failed to find them). After spending some time browsing on ASOS for the most fabulous design there was, because I’m worth it, I decided on splashing out and paying €34.99 for a pair of quilted, dark brown, fake fur slippers. I happily added them to my cart, only to begin the checkout process and see that the delivery date was 20th April. Initially, it felt really far away, but then I realised April starts tomorrow, so it really isn’t. As a sign of optimism, I decided against getting them. I guess will have to settle for all my stolen hotel room slippers, the collection of which I managed to build throughout the past couple of years, when we used to travel.
Tonight we were listening to music, and the neighbour from downstairs came to ring our doorbell at 10pm to complain (I hid in the kitchen, but social distancing crucifixes were mentally thrown at him while making ‘khhh’ sounds. Next time I’ll cough.) Our street is very noisy, and every time the tram passes by the building vibrates, so I concluded that this is not about the volume levels, he simply doesn’t like our taste in music. Which is absolutely ok, nobody’s perfect. Because I aim to please, from tomorrow I will start trying out different genres to see what makes him happy. I do not know what his name us, but we can call him Rodolfo, because it just sounds great.
Out in the big bad Covid-19 world, apparently anosmia is now becoming one of the major symptoms, even though it was not identified in earlier research. I just wanted to give everyone a warning, mostly because of a story I came across, in which someone’s partner would pass gas in front of her to test if her anosmia was improving. Be careful who you share your symptoms with; oversharing could easily backfire.
I wonder what supermarkets are looking like these days, maybe I should give it a go.
Lunch: Omelette with feta, pine nuts, and spinach
Song of the day: I Want It That Way