The last week has been more of the same, except for the weather.  Like most other people in Europe, and now – finally – those at home, we’re only allowed out for groceries or walking the dogs.

Thank god Colin has two doggies so we can both get out for an hour or so each day.

We did go to the next town again to visit the nice butchers and get a few things, but otherwise have been in the house doing a lot of reading.  The tv only gets Italian stations and there’s no sports happening – they’re down to showing football (soccer) matches from 1977 for entertainment.  The first John Wick movie was on last night, and while it was funny to hear Keanue Reeves speak fluent Italian (ok – it was dubbed) it was getting late so I gave up partway through.

The weather took a bad turn – the last few days we’ve had fierce winds, and – snow!  Colin was looking out the window and told me it was snowing and I actually didn’t believe him – I thought he was joking, and I am very gullible.

But no – it really was snowing – just a few days ago I’d taken the patio chairs out, and was quite comfortable in shorts and t-shirt, but now I have to bundle up in my winter coat and icelandic wool hat and mitts.  I’d thought I’d left winter behind, but apparently not.

I try not to obsess about the news and how badly some countries and their useless governments are coping – why didn’t they learn from the mistakes made here? 

I’m glad we’re in such a small village and not a large city, and that we can still go outside – we’re alone in the hills within two minutes, and sometimes don’t see a single other person.  We always carry our passports now, as well as the form that the police will sign if we’re ever stopped, but so far so good.

Little Henry is a bit of a rascal – he’s developed a fondness for my socks so I now have to hide them when I take them off.  We had a tug-of-war the other day with one of them, and he’s also gone after my wool hat, which must now stay safely tucked away in my backpack.

He’s also had a little ‘accident’ or two in the house, although I wonder if it’s a protest because we’re not letting him lick our plates anymore when we’re finished eating.

I really hope everyone at home and elsewhere start to behave as we and our fellow villagers are here – be considerate and respectful.  Be kind and caring. Don’t be selfish or put others in danger by going out as if nothing has changed. Maybe we can make a better world when we get over this challenge – and we will.

We had planned to ride our bikes to a larger town just north of us to get groceries, but discovered that my front tire was completely flat.  Upon removing it we found a vicious thorn about half an inch long, just like a spike – ok, Colin found it while I supervised. Ok again! – Colin found it while I watched helplessly and tried to keep the dogs out of the way.

The patch-job didn’t quite work so we gave up for the moment and drove to the store.  Upon arriving we got in line outside the store – everyone at least six feet or more from each other.  It took 15 or 20 minutes before we were allowed in, as only four or five customers were allowed at the same time, and it was a fairly large store.  

We picked up some fresh local veggies and more excellent meat from the butcher – he remembered us from our last visit and we got some lovely lamb chops as well as a nice roasting chicken, a steak and some ground beef (I’ll never be a vegetarian!).

We kind of expected to see some empty shelves, but no – here in the heart of coronavirus country we haven’t seen or experienced panic buying or ignorant hoarding of anything.

We’ve taken the dogs out every day for nice longwalks – one of the few things we’re still allowed to do.  Even recreational bike riding is now forbidden since if you have an accident you would be taking precious emergency resources away from a completely overburdened medical system trying desperately to save coronavirus victims’ lives.

We consider ourselves very fortunate to be where we are right now, despite the fact that we are right in the middle of Italy – or maybe because that’s where we are.  We’re in a lovely, comfortable little house, we have a great outdoor space, and are nowhere near a big city. The village is coping very well and the small Conad store here hasn’t run out of anything (although thanks to me they’re getting low on a certain kind of vino rosso) – could be much worse!

It’s gotten warm enough to put the patio furniture out so I spent a couple of hours this afternoon sipping some local red and reading online about the idiots in the UK and US – not just the citizens but especially the incompetent leaders – oh my god!!

Adversity brings out our true natures – we need to bring out the best in ourselves and each other. Pray for us in Italy and everywhere – whatever prayer is to you or whatever you believe in give it now!  Only good, kind, loving and positive thoughts and actions will help – thank you – from ‘the red zone’!

On a lighter note – I hardly ever take selfies, but this is me on our terrace – not bad view behind me, right?

So it’s been pretty quiet in Papiano for the last few days, except for a couple of things.  The first event happened when we had walked the dogs down to the piazza and Colin was sitting with them while I stood outside the grocery store awaiting my turn to enter.  I heard a commotion and Colin yelling ‘no Henry no! Let go!’.

I left my place in line and ran over to find that Henry had a full grown pigeon firmly clamped in his mouth and wasn’t about to let go.  Colin was trying to pry Henry’s jaws open but Henry was hanging on – rather proudly, I thought. Finally between the two of us we managed to convince him to let go – alas it was too late for the pigeon as it was dead.  I picked it up by a tail feather and put it in the nearby garbage bin, then washed my hands in the fountain – Henry was a bit puzzled that we’d taken away his prize.

We did go for a ride that same day – lovely blue sky but not too hot.  I realized right away on the first hill that the motor in my bike wasn’t working, which was a big drag as we had several climbs on the roads we were on.

After pushing the heavy tank up more than one hill we got to a high point that made easier riding for me back down to the house.  It turned out that all that was needed was a quick cleanup of the contact points on the control pad – problem solved, thank goodness!

The last two nights there’s been a vehicle driving very slowly through the village with a loudspeaker blaring.  I couldn’t catch much of it up in our ‘medieval’ portion of the village, but we assumed it was about staying home and avoiding crowds – this was verified to us by the brits that we met again on one of our dog walks.

We went for another nice bike ride this afternoon, and was it ever nice to have the motor working – some of the back ‘roads’ are very steep.  The wind was so fierce it almost blew us off the road at times, but we persevered. We did notice that there was very little traffic on any of the roads – folks seem to be keeping close to home, as recommended by the authorities.

There’s more than one home-made banner hung on the balconies of houses down in the piazza coloured with rainbows and the words ‘andra tutto bene’ – everything will be good.

Even in ‘the red zone’ that we’re in there’s no panic, and the local little store is still fully stocked, including toilet paper – what is it with other places and the obsession with TP?!?

We’re still eagerly waiting for the bell tower to be functional again – apparently they have the funds to retrofit it but the committee can’t agree on exactly what to do – typical in Italy, unfortunately.

Things have been changing rapidly here due to the coronavirus – we’re now in full ‘lockdown’.  On Monday only the north of the country was affected by the rules so we went out and tried to get some firewood from a fellow that Colin had gotten some from before.  I managed to say ‘we need…’ in Italian, but didn’t know the word for firewood – luckily there was a pile nearby so I picked up a piece of wood and he got the message.  Unfortunately they aren’t chopping any at this time of year so we went away empty-handed.After that we drove a little further towards Lago Trasimeno and stopped at a little cafe for a very nice cappuccino – sitting outside in the sun in rural Italy and sipping great coffee allowed us to forget for a few minutes what was happening up north.

The next day we got the news that the entire country was now in partial lockdown and the first change we saw in the village was when I went to the store.  There were a couple of ladies outside and I thought they were just chatting but when I went to go in they made me understand that I had to wait until others that were already inside came out.

The bar was still serving, but apparently they now have to shut at 6 pm and patrons have to keep 3 feet apart from each other.  We were still able to sit outside and it wasn’t a problem, and the dogs still got their usual treats from Antonio.

The next day we drove towards Todi to get some plants from the garden centre – the road had maybe half of the usual traffic, and the local police were visible, although didn’t seem to be stopping anyone from entering or exiting the highway.  We picked up a very nice bamboo plant, as well as a forsythia bush and a small olive tree.

We’ve been using my hand sanitizer, and are careful about getting near anyone, or touching anyone’s hands, etc.  We’re not panicking, but also trying to be careful. So far none of the shops we’ve been in have empty shelves or seem to be running out of anything.  We did buy more food than usual in Marsciano, hoping to go out once a week rather than every few days for supplies.

Next-door neighbour Angelo is home right now so I didn’t catch sight of Chairman Meow for several days after arriving.  He’s put on quite a bit of weight – Meow, not Angelo – likely caused by Colin taking him in for snipping last year, so now he isn’t chasing the female cats as much.

We’ve charged up both of the electric bikes and plan to start going for rides – if we can’t go south to Sicily as planned at least we can still get fresh air and exercise without endangering ourselves or others.

Our dilemma now is where to go next – that is when the lockdown is lifted.  It depends entirely on the progress of the virus in Italy and other nearby countries – can we go south to Sicily in early April, or will it be safer to go up to France?  Wait and see…..

Well, things have changed again – all cafes, restaurants and bars are closed completely, as well as the post office – drats!  We’ll have to make our own coffee now and sit on the terrace instead of down at the bar. And if we want to go anywhere there’s a form we need to fill out stating our destination and explaining why we should be allowed to leave the village.

We got the bamboo split – not easy! – and planted them in the cement boxes that line the patio – they look great.  The boxes on the upper level are now full of colourful primroses that should fill in nicely, as long as Meow doesn’t dig them all out.