Day 48: Animal sightings in Ticinese
I left the house
Yesterday I broke my personal record, and finally left the house after three weeks. As shocking as it may sound, spending so much time inside an apartment was actually not that bad. The only person I have to run away from is myself, and that comes with many practical difficulties, so once you’ve come to terms with that fact, everything else becomes much easier. My life has trained me for moments like these and, in some near-future post, I am sure the right time will come to share even more glimpses of my uneventful, yet character-building past. Writing my dissertation was one such occasion. It involved a lot of microwave meals, speedreading, and an admirable amount of optimism. I am still too embarrassed to read it.
Since it was Saturday (remember the weekend?), the weather was nice, and we were running out of tinned tomatoes, we wrote ourselves permission slips and took the scenic route to the supermarkets. There are two supermarkets we can go to, so the plan was to go past Carrefour first (more selection, lower quality, longer queue) and then past Pam (smaller selection, debatable quality, shorter queue). We basically set ourselves up for failure, so we could extend our time outdoors.
The first thing I realised once we were out was that, like condoms, masks provide the illusion of protection, but are absolutely useless if you don’t know how to wear them. Many people were seen using them as a necklace or chin cushion, which might have looked interesting, but my limited scientific knowledge suggests these are definitely not the right ways to put them on. Even more fascinating were the families with young children, where the parents decided to shield themselves by correctly wearing masks, but decided to leave their spawn exposed (they must be having a really rough time at home).
Since we live close to the Navigli, we decided to go past the Darsena to see if the butcher in the local market was still open, and to also see if the fish were still there. We spotted many people on the opposite bank not social distancing and looking at something swimming in the water. I said it was ducks, the other half suggested it was rats. We both clearly had Chinese delicacies top-of-mind. A persistent, albeit distant, examination revealed that the animals were actually beavers. Maybe. At that point, I realised we probably won’t remember what animals look like once we’re out, apart from felines and doggies. I also have no idea where the beavers came from, but a quick look at the little crowd that gathered around them suggests we have much bigger things to worry about.
We continued our walk through a small park, in which many people were reading books and staring at dogs and children playing. The vast majority of them had no reason to be there. I began to wonder if the meaning of walking the dog began to expand to walking the children.
We ended up at Pam for a quick top-up shop, and then headed back home.
Walking the streets after weeks of confinement carries the same sentiment as riding a bike. Or other things you may not have done for a while. You will always remember how you do it, but the more you've put it off, the more tired you will feel at the end.
In the evening, I also faced my drawing demons. When we all eventually perish, probably at some point in the not-so-distant future, maybe the 3D drawing I made of my hand will be discovered and have the equivalent significance of cave paintings from the Paleolithic era. I won’t mind. It’s a lot better than my dissertation.
Lunch: Brunch (poached eggs, smoked salmon, cream cheese and truffle oil)
Song of the day: The Beaver Song from How I Met Your Mother