Hi everyone - in case you were wondering, Barbara and I are back in Atlanta for the next couple of weeks. All of the schools in Italy closed as of last week, and we are now looking at April 6 as the 'best case' reopening date. So we decided to ride this out back here - not to mention, it looks like our house is about to sell (!), so there's lots of packing to do (I actually went back to Italy for 5 days, when it was unclear whether or not school would reopen...but I can't let Barbara pack up the rest of the house all by herself!).
It was a tricky journey back to Atlanta from Torino: after 1 train, 1 bus, 2 planes (with a long taxi ride from Stansted to Heathrow in between, here I am!) It was weird being in England even for 4 hours, always brings back a lot of memories - being far away but suddenly everyone speaks English...
When I went to check in for my flight from Heathrow to ATL Hartsfield, the Delta agent asked if I had recently been to China or Italy or Iran or S. Korea. I said "well, I just landed here from Italy...along with 100 other people." She looked at me like I was either joking, or a walking pathogen. She had to get a supervisor, who looked me over and proclaimed me "OK" to get on the flight! My guess is that things are a lot more stringent now.
You know you're back in England when you see...WHSmith, your driver on the "wrong" side of the car, an attempt to photo the M-25 exit for "St. Albans" (rainy and gray skies...)
Back in Atlanta, we're in semi-lockdown like everyone else. Thank you to those of you we have run into the last week who DIDN'T socially distance me more than the usual amount. Days start at 4:00 a.m. (9:00 in Italy, while we have Daylight Savings Time) with virtual math lessons for my 6's and 7's and virtual Econ discussions for the older kids. Trade off is my workday is over around noon!
One good thing, Celeste happens to be on Spring break (from her senior year at Occidental College in LA) this week so she came back to Atlanta...it's been a real bonus to see her! But now it looks like Oxy is going on-line for her final semester there, which is a bummer-spring of senior year is the best semester, it's a shame she can't spend it on campus. Oh well, that's a small sacrifice compared to what others are going through.
Things you won't see in Italy (l-r): Free glasses of water w/ restaurant meal,
"Welcome to Moe's," and drive-thru windows
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Stay healthy everyone and maybe we'll see you around the neighborhood!