Thursday, 5 March, 2020
This pretty much sums up the day . . .
. . . at least I think that is the
correct translation for this oft
used word these days
But, the other possible translation works too.
You could look it up on Google Translate.
This morning started as usual with a short walk to the Bar al Semaforo for my daily brioche and cappuccino.
This was new . . .
In accordance with our newest anti-Coronavirus mandates in Lombardia, people will no longer be served at the bar. Patrons must now be seated in order to further minimize physical contact, the One Meter Rule's newest incarnation.
The morning paper announced . . .
. . . that for the next three weekends all
of Italy's Serie A calcio/soccer games will
be played but with no fans in attendance
That's a total of 30 games being contested with greatly reduced revenues, things are getting serious.
This would only be the start of today's Coronavirus and sporting events news today.
One interesting line of discussion amid the Coronavirus scare is babysitting. Yes, babysitting.
With school being cancelled the last two weeks in Lombardia and the new announcement today that all schools in Italy will be closed as well next week, babysitting has become a hot topic.
As in America, many families in Italy are in the situation where both parents work in order to improve their standard of living. Thus, these prolonged school closures are stressing parents in part due to the potential cost of hiring babysitters.
On the other hand comes the question of relying on grandparents as babysitters in these unusual times. The financial issue would no longer be the problem but remember that the older among us seem to be more susceptible to the Coronavirus. Would babysitting by these willing grandparents put themselves and others at greater risk of spreading the Coronavirus?
Or, like our neighbor, you
could just put your child in
a balcony swing like this one
to keep them entertained all day
Raffa got his long awaited new,
indestructible iPhone yesterday
A morning selfie was a must on his new device!
As you may know, Milano is one of the world's most important fashion capitals. The world of fashion was pitching in with some good fashion sense notions in these tough times.
Giorgio Armani's newest fashion innovation
to help with the One Meter Rule
I've got to get one of those!
Once safely ensconced back in the Villa Skorpion II, I got busy planning tonight's practice and working on a host of Skorpion related projects.
After about two hours of "smart work," I took a break and peeked at FaceBook . . .
. . . VAFFANCULO!
The Savona Pirates, the Skorpions opponents in this coming Sunday's second attempt at an opening game of the 2020 DII season, just announced that they were suspending all operations until reevaluating the Coronavirus situation again on March 12th.
Thus, for the second successive week, our game was postponed.
Soon after the Pirates announcement, FIDAF sprung into FaceBook action . . .
"We interrupt this program to bring
you an important announcement."
VAFFANCULO!!
The Federation's announcement simply stated that because of the current health issues all practices and games at all three Italian levels (DI, DII and CIF9) of American football are to be cancelled until the Federation reviews the situation again on Sunday, March 15th.
Thus, our third attempt to hold a season opener on March 14th at home vs. the Reggio Emilia Hogs was also postponed.
Thus, as of now we have had three of our eight regular season contests postponed.
Honestly, I don't see our situation in Italy getting much better on either the Coronavirus or American football front any time soon.
Now we could not practice tonight as planned but many of us met briefly at Skorpion Field in order to merely pick up the new away game jerseys that had just arrived. Some of us were also purchasing the the latest in Skorpion swag.
The newest Skorpion clothing included red sweatshirts, gray sweatpants and red t-shirts. I bought all three in, spoiler alert, real men's sizes, not Italian sizing.
What to do since we could not practice?
Running backs coach Cristian "Bumba" Bianchi was our voice of reason.
Bumba's solution was simply to . . .
mangia, Mangia, MANGIA!
So, from Skorpion Field, five of our coaches headed to another of Bumba's hidden gems of Varese food lore . . .
. . . the Osteria del Centenate
It was my first trip here and the Osteria would quickly move to the top of my list of Great Dining Spots in Varese.
Pye, Fabio, Pietro, myself and Bumba
in the middle of our shared,
ten plate antipasti food orgy
At this point, we still had three more secondo piatti meat dishes to share and consume like the locusts that we were tonight.
Not to mention some perfect Italian red wine.
So, how delicious and varied was the food that we had consumed? When it came time for ordering dolci (dessert) which was included in the price of our meal, we all quickly said, "No, graze."
What were the odds of that happening with five American Football coaches?
Where is everybody?
During our intense two hour meal, I asked our waitress what this large osteria would have looked like on a Thursday night before the Coronavirus outbreak. She said it would have been fairly full.
Tonight, only four more tables were in use by a total of about ten other people.
Tomorrow's daily weigh-in is going to be a tad ugly I suspect.
Finally . . .
. . . wait, I thought that China
was the Coronavirus epicenter?
2 comments:
Who knew that hula-hoop stock would have been a good investment to cope with the one-meter rule? (Which looks to have been violated during dinner. Don't worry, I won't report you to the Department of One-Meter-Rule Enforcement, which I assume is somehow linked to the Italian Post Office.)
EVERYTHING is linked to the Italian Post Office!
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