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Locked down but not out in Italy

Singing from the balconies! One nice thing about this crisis ... solidarity! “Guess you’re not living like a tourist anymore,” was the funny, truthful and somewhat gut-wrenching message of a friend the day the lockdown in Italy began. Today is day 6. My beloved Italia has been hit hard with the COVID19 epidemic. With the second largest elderly population in the world, the epidemic has meant a disproportionate amount of deaths in the country. So though I haven’t been worried about contracting it myself, this isn’t about me or someone like me who, if contracted it would probably have a sucky couple of weeks and then recover. It is about if someone like me contracted it and then spread it to a person with a complicated health history or an elderly person with a weakened immune system. Eerily orderly: Lines for the grocery store, each person one meter apart In a country with no concept (and no physical room really) for personal space, and in a city with reproachable hygie
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A commuter's complaint


Ugh. Well not all new things are going to be good things, and this is an experience I don't care to repeat.

In addition to the five modes of transport that I already take to get me from tiny town, suburban Baltimore to heart of nearby big city D.C., I added on one more leg this Friday night. Mind you this was out of necessity, but it was still not a good idea.

In my commute, I usually take (1) the car to Baltimore's train station, (2) train to Washington's Union station, (3) red line metro to the (4) orange line metro, and then (5) the short walk to the building. On a good day, this take me 1 hour 50 minutes. This Friday, I added (6) light rail to this combination, which made my total commuting time 2 hours 40 minutes. And the light rail on a Friday night was not the nicest of experiences.

As much as I hate driving in traffic (and I DETEST driving in traffic), I will concede that on this particular occasion, the two experiences might have been on par.

So, I am particularly happy to report that I can now count the number of hideously long commutes I have left on one hand. The week after, I will officially reside in the capital of the U.S.A. and commute in a sane manner.
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