Day 31: It could always be worse
And some thoughts about Easter
They will probably release us at some point in the next month, under the premise that we will all have to wear masks. Someone at work was telling me that a company already launched with the genius business model of making mask covers. Like phone covers, you get to wear your medical-grade, high-protection mask, but can then buy a beautifully designed cover to place on top. Because who needs one thing covering their face when you can have two. As you can imagine, their initiative was not very well received.
I wonder if this will kickstart a new Prohibition era, where people will gather in secret bars and restaurants (and other venues) so they can freely use their mouths and noses for their own delights, like binging on McDonald’s after two months of drinking and journalling about smoothies. I imagine it all looking like a Bosch painting, even though we are psychologically starring in one already. One of the many reasons why I love Bosch, is because he imagined and painted everything that could ever possibly go wrong, so we don’t have to worry about it.
In case you ever feel sorry for yourself, remember that it could always be worse. You could always be eaten by a giant bird while having smaller birds and a rifle firing out of your ass.
I realised that this is the week of the passions of the Christ, after a colleague had mentioned that Monday is Pasquetta, the Easter Monday of Italy. By having grown up in an Orthodox country and then moving to nations that celebrate Catholic Easter, I have had the pleasure of having not one but two religious spring holidays that I could celebrate by eating unhealthily large amounts of food and not going to church. This is because the stars align in such a way that the Catholic Easter and the Greek Orthodox Easter rarely coincide. It’s like the Champions League and the Europa League finals: you won’t have any overlap between the teams, but they’ll never fall on the same day just in case someone wants to watch both.
Of course, I’m sure you have all noticed that this year is slightly different, and Easter celebrations will be held in private. Unless you are the Orthodox Church in Cyprus, which momentarily considered moving Easter to a later date because, like the Champions League final, they wouldn’t want to have it without their fans. Jesus likes this.
Although in theory some of the lockdown measures in Italy should have been lifted in time for Easter, news of roadblocks being applied across town to prevent people from visiting family and friends for a casual barbecue is sending out mixed signals about when life will start reopening. And, as a dear friend once said, mixed signals are bad signals in disguise.
Lunch: Edamame noodles with vegetables. Accidentally vegan?
Song of the day (and every day): Robyn - Dancing On My Own
A friend pointed out that yesterday was the one-year anniversary of us going to Berlin to see Robyn live, which was the closest I ever got to being a gay man. It was fabulous.