The Prick

Being of a certain age, and a resident, I was entitled to the anti-Covid vaccine.

Forget 'entitled' though, I'm a firm believer that everyone should get it. For your own, and the sake of those around you, it's a no-brainer!
Anyways, happily armed with both my tessera sanitaria (health insurance) and codice fiscale (tax code) numbers, I went onto the Siciliacoronavirus.it website to book my jab.

Ouch...!

Now imagine my surprise when I found the booking system claimed I was either not in the right category (60-plus) or my numbers were wrong.
I put it down to they weren't actually ready for my age group yet: This being Sicily and all. So, every day for the next week, I tried again.
It took that long for me to recall my own previous blog post: 'Italy equals bureaucracy'? What tipped the balance was my younger-than-me wife also becoming eligible for the jab.
Because I knew my details were right, so therefore the problem had to be at their end, didn't it? As in: Some faceless bureaucrat hadn't put my details into the system properly. There was an email address, so I duly sent one firmly (but oh so politely!) pointing out I couldn't book a jab.
Two weeks later they replied. And, wonder-of-wonders, four days after that, both Alice and I were taking the obligatory selfie outside the vaccination centre!
Despite our sore shoulders, we both felt elated, like this great weight had been lifted.
Which, of course, it had!

Rhythm of Life

With Summer's sudden arrival and Sicily now zona gialla (yellow zone), life's taken a turn for the better.

Spring sprang!

By 'sudden arrival' I mean just that: One day it was Spring, the next Summer.
Even some locals appeared to be caught off guard. They hadn't finished wearing their Spring wardrobe when the first hot days dropped, and we were greeted with the sight of some walking about the place in jackets and scarves, despite it being in the mid-high 20's!
This could be part of the whole 'bella figura' ('beautiful figure') thing I explained some time back though. As in: It's still officially Spring, so I 'have' to wear this, alright?
Now weather-wise, the great thing is the humidity.
The lack of it, that is. I'm writing this at 08:42, it's 23 degrees and sunny (high of 28 today), but the humidity's a low 20 precent. Which is frankly great!
Otherwise, we'd fry every time we left the house, 'cause there are no clouds, just this endless blinding but brilliant blue vault overhead.
Long may it last which, we’re assured by locals, it f'sure will!
The other piece of good news is, of course, that we're back in yellow.
Which means, amongst many other obvious benefits, we’re free to travel about the place again. Something we do have to start doing more of.
Don’t get me wrong, Modica’s great, but we absolutely need to explore more of our island home.
Time to look at getting a car then?

True Colours

It was like Modica was re-born this week.
Emerging from its two-month forced hibernation. And at the end of each school and working day it's now heaving with happy (or at least happier) people. Milling about, and getting in each other's way, as only Italians can do.
All because of last Monday's change of zone from orange to yellow, of course.

Don't mind if I do...!

Due to outdoor seated drinking and dining being allowed again: Slowly at first, but with increasing urgency, tables, chairs, umbrellas and signage began popping up all about the place.
The tourists have returned too. At least, the local ones have. Modica now playing host to increasing numbers of non-Modican and non-Sicilian Italians.
I fully expect this trickle to become an almost-flood in the next few months as both EU and non-EU visitors dramatically increase current numbers.
And I, for one, am actually looking forward to it. For both selfish and altruistic reasons, I hasten to add! This is now my home town, and I want it to thrive once again: I have skin in this game now, after all.
We (now) have many friends and acquaintances in the hospitality industry here, and they've f'sure been hurting these last 15 months, and not just for the last few.
Sadly, some places haven't, and likely won't now, re-open.
Capitalism at work? Sure. But these were once someone's dream. Now shattered, like so much since March 2020.
But we've been told again and again: Sicilians are resilient.
So there’s hope!

More Soon...