One
Last year the temperature went over 30°C on June 1st and everyday for three months thereafter it was at least that hot, hitting 39 a couple of times. People said that it was unusually warm for Rome, but I didn’t know any better since it was my first summer here. I don’t like the heat that much, so I spent many afternoons in my bedroom, one of the only rooms in our house with air-conditioning.
This summer, June 1st rolled around and we barely had temperatures into the high 20s. April and May were about the same. It was perfect weather. Too bad for all those people with canceled travel plans, missing it. Now, in late June, the warmth is back. And I still don’t like it. We’ve moved into the two-a-day showers.
Two
Before my older daughter got on a plane a couple of weeks ago to go back to Montreal, we had a family Whist tournament over four nights. Whist, for those that don’t know, is a card game where one suit is trump and the trump suit alternates between hands. Invariably, at the beginning of each hand someone asked, “what’s trump?” My sarcastic answers started out like “the worst POTUS ever” or “an ego-maniac” or “a fascist.” But by the fourth night there was only one answer, repeated after each deal. “A dick!” It never got old. At least for me. I did not win the tournament.
Three
Being stranded far away from our senior parents during this pandemic comes with a certain amount of guilt, as our siblings are close-by and are bearing the brunt of their management, even though no one is allowed to actually visit them in person.
The Black-Lives-Matter protests intensify this ex-pat guilt, as we’d also like to participate in this cultural revolution. The protest marches in big cities and little towns across the country make me proud, though also disappointed when things turn violent.
Racism, of course, is not an issue only for the United States, but is endemic pretty much everywhere to some degree. Italy is no different. There have been small BLM-inspired marches in Rome, moderately attended partly because of the COVID restrictions. It is difficult for me to grasp the entire landscape of the issues here, not being fluent enough for Italian newspapers or knowing the details of the more recent history. There is a lot of work to be done here, not least of which by me.
Four
When the first opening phase of the virus recovery allowed us to move within our own province, we decided to get out of town and see something other than the inside of our house. We found a small villa for rent on a little volcanic lake south of Rome, nestled in an orchard near the bottom of the crater. Lago di Nemi is less than 170 ha in size and has two villages, one on either side of the crater rim, Nemi and Genzano.
The villa had two bedrooms, a nice kitchen attached to a big living space, and a patio with a fantastic view of whole landscape. The end of the road into the place was a little rough, so after the initial foray to unload our luggage I left our rental car at the top of the hill about 50 meters away. The road went most of the way around the lake, but devolved to a single track around one end. It was about a 5 km run around it. There was a pizzeria at the other end of the lake with a large outdoor patio that provided a good destination for dinner. We made trips into Genzano, both on foot (15 minutes) and in the car (20 minutes), mostly to get groceries and gelato. We also walked to Nemi one afternoon for wifi connectivity (it was spotty at the villa), and were the only ones in a restaurant overlooking the entire crater.
We spent eight days at the lake. Swimming most days and enjoying several thunderstorms. We finished many books and bottles of prosecco. The dog got to live off-leash. It was a great escape from the pandemic and we will go back.
Five
As pandemic restrictions eased in Italy, we were allowed to eat at outdoor cafes, go to the barber, and travel a little farther from home. We avoided indoor contact with people, really only going inside to buy groceries. We met friends in parks, in video calls, and had some teenagers over to the roof. We continued to avoid public transportation, however, fearing a higher risk of infection. So, in order to get around a little farther afield in the summer heat, we bought a car.
This is no one’s idea of a dream car. We didn’t want to spend a lot of time and money looking for the perfect one: the state-of-the-science most environmentally friendly electric car or the little red Alfa Romeo two-seater convertable. Nope, we just wanted to get something quickly that would make it easy for us to get around. So we got a 2017 Fiat Panda.
Pandas have been around for 40 years and have undergone many changes in their evolution. There are currently several models and, to be honest, I don’t know which model we have. It’s tiny but has four doors, parallel parks with ease, and has air-conditioning. The gearing, steering, and brakes all feel sturdy, though there is a definitive lack of power. I’ve gotten it to 110 km/h but also had to downshift to first gear on a steep hill. Since our trip back to the States this summer has been postponed indefinitely, we’re gonna’ take it on the road this summer in Italy! I hope we make it.
Six
It really is sad watching the United States cope with COVID. So many people trying their hardest and so many people resisting. It takes a community to defeat this thing, and the lack of leadership at the top is so disheartening. Built upon an education system that apparently has failed to deliver a basic understanding of science, and a political system increasingly devoid of an understanding of why government exists in the first place, people’s fears have gotten the best of them. This should not be “us vs. them”. In a very real way, the 9/11 terrorists have succeeded in sowing that fear of one another and eroding America’s place in the world. It’s time to come together for education and against fear.
