Sunday, 8 March, 2020
Today was supposed to be all about our beloved Skorpions' second season opening game, this time on the roads against the Savona Pirates.
But, just like last weekend's first season opener at home against the Modena Vipers, our game was again postponed because of the Coronavirus outbreak.
Next weekend's home contest vs. the Reggio Emilia Hogs has also been postponed.
Let's move on to a more uplifting topic, Italy's annual celebration of the Festa della Donne. This is often called International Women's Day.
A good day indeed for all
of our fun loving Italian ragazze!
The mimosa is THE in flower
to give on this special day
With that in mind, I got out of the Villa Skorpion II early to buy four of these mimosa bunches to give to my four favorite
Italian ladies.
To be honest, it was tough narrowing the field to just four but we are under quarantine after all.
Who were the lucky four you ask?
The first delivery was to the Pasticceria Marabelli to give both Cristina and Giorgia, who serve me my normal cappuccino and brioche with a smile and some good chit-chat daily, some mimosas. Of course, we observed the mandatory One Meter Rule at all times.
The final two mimosa bunches went to my neighbors and Mother-Daughter team, Santa Barbara and Federica. How can I ever truly repay all of their kindnesses to me over the last three seasons in Varese?
Traditionally, women go wild the evening of the Festa Della Donne and men's safety is in serious doubt from marauding bands of women.
Maybe not this year.
As to the Coronavirus front, unfortunately I have much to report.
Basically it translates to
Lombardy Strong!
Sorry to have to be the bearer
of bad news but Ireland's
American Football League has now
joined us in postponing games
due to the Coronavirus
At about 2:00 a.m. today the Italian government confirmed the rumored move to the Defcon 4 level of response to our health issues.
The entire region of Lombardia
is under total lockdown
No one enters, no one leaves starting today.
As you can see in this map, the
red parts of the regions of
Emilia-Romagna, Marche, Piemonte
and Veneto are also now on
Defcon 4 lockdown
I'm not sure how they are going to enforce this, we'll see.
I also do not know if this means that the airports, trains, busses, etc. are closed in these four regions. Logic tells me that they should be if they seriously desire to curtail movement in and out of the highly infected areas.
Things get curiouser and curiouser on the Italian boot daily . . .
As for the Italian Holy Grail that
is Serie A calcio/soccer . . .
The 20 teams in Italy's top league stand to lose 20,000,000 Euros over the next three weekends hosting games in stadiums closed to the fans.
So how do I feel about all of this?
About like these shutters,
workable but much the worse for wear
Former Rio Mesa H.S. teachers Ed and Annie Ransom and their kids are living in Finland while Annie works on the requirements for fulfillment of her Fulbright Scholarship.
Today we communicated via FaceBook Messenger about the state of the Coronavirus outbreak in our two adopted countries.
Thankfully, so far they are safe.
Annie main concern for me was if I had enough wine to survive for a few weeks, so I checked my cupboards . . .
. . . "NO," I responded, "I will
probably run out sometime tonight."
With games and practices all put on hold for the foreseeable future, our Running Back Coach Cristian "Bumba" Bianchi opted for a RB team building exercise today.
Nothing like a five hour hike in the snowcapped mountains near Luino to build unity.
RBs from L. to R.: Ema Della Bosca,
Alessandro Brovelli, Dylan Auriema,
Lorenzo Pizzeti and, around the corner,
Sergio Montalbetti
Bumba documented their arrival at the mountain's summit with this photo.
Not wanting to overexert ourselves, Linebacker Coach Fabio Drigo and I joined the RB group for lunch after their hike at the Rifugio Campiglio.
The view of Lago Maggiore below
the Rifugio Campiglio
We are definitely in the mountains
I wonder, what the purpose of
that hut?
I guess that we won't be dining
on the Rifugio's patio today
Our two hour lunch was AWESOME!
On the left side of the table are me, Bumba, Fabio and Sergio.
Continuing around the table from front to back are Lorenzo, Dylan, Alessandro and Ema.
I got to talk a bit with our waitress who hails from Cienfuegos, Cuba. Small world isn't it?
One last look south towards Lago
Maggiore before the long drive home
Keep lighting candles for the
Skorpion family's health and for
our rapidly imploding season
When I got back home, I did have one piece of really good news from Santa Barbara.
Santa Barbara enjoying a
gelato at Argentina,
arguably Varese's best Gelateria
Like ME!
The top gelaterias in northern Italy tend to close for the cold Winter months and then reopen when the warmer weather is more conducive to gelato consumption and huge sales.
I may challenge the authority figures in Varese tomorrow and escape the bunker for a scoop or four of gelato at Argentina.
Finally, did you ever get a song just stuck in your head for a long time for no apparent reason?
Today this song from the 1960s was constantly playing in my head: https://youtu.be/jxNEiZhpinY
I can't help but wonder why?
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