Day 33: Good Friday
I sat on my balcony
A day of many historic events: the date on which the RMS Titanic first set sail from Southampton, the day on which Italian Prime Minister Giuseppe Conte officially announced the extension of the lockdown measures until May 3rd, and the day on which I finally sat on my balcony. For fifteen minutes. Then I had a work call, and although the internet reception was fine in the beginning, it soon turned out to be unwilling to cooperate, so I had to move back inside. This must be how dogs feel like when being taken for a walk; the experience is enjoyable but short, they have to go back against their will, but they still end up feeling slightly refreshed and indebted to their owner (in my case, the internet) for having given them the opportunity.
The other highlight of Friday was the second pub quiz round hosted with friends on Zoom, for which I dressed up by wearing one of my favourite Mykonos outfits, as well as lipstick. I hadn’t worn lipstick for so long that afterwards, during dinner, I wiped my mouth and I thought it was blood and I was dying from tuberculosis. But then I realised that having Coronavirus was much more likely, and felt better. It was a good Friday.
My Myers Briggs profile suggests that my type is one of the most likely to not mind immortality, even if that implies eternal loneliness. Judging by how I have been living through this lockdown, I can confirm that it is definitely correct. Remember: Titanic was such a tragedy because it was going too fast, and there were too many people on board.
The more I think about it, the more I think the timing of Netflix releasing Tiger King could not have been more perfect. We are our own tigers, living inside cages (you can also call them sanctuaries, depending on whether your preferred workout type is circuit training or yoga), eating expired food, going for short walks not too far from where we live, and not knowing if there is life beyond this. And, like watching Tiger King, quarantine is not always enjoyable, at times it is too crazy to be true, but once you’ve started, there is no way out.
When there are still little milestones to be achieved from inside your house, like surviving a semi-collapsing balcony (if the bridges here are collapsing, I don’t want to know how they’re building everything else), needing to go out is no longer a luxury, it stops being necessary. I always thought my dad, who enjoys spending long streaks of time on the sofa and hates leaving the house, had an unhealthy lifestyle, but he was just ahead of his time.
If anything, the person leading an unhealthy lifestyle is me. When all of this is over, I will have a decent body, but no liver.
Lunch: Black-eyed beans with courgette, sardines, tomatoes and onions
Song of the day: The White Stripes - I’m Slowly Turning Into You