One year ago today. If history interests you, here’s the Metro free paper on the floor of the tube in Turin. I’ve translated it below.

It’s interesting to read this now, and so tragic as we have seen so much sadness and loss prior to this new time of hope.

We are always living history but presently we are REALLY living history.

One year ago today, only three people had died with coronavirus in Italy. I’m not sure what China had recorded as their loss at this point.

We were watching the TV news daily and I was trying to understand what was being discussed.

It was a strange experience being in Northern Italy at the start of this pandemic, it’s all too common to hear about other country’s struggles from afar.

Italy was fast becoming our seer; what we saw there was a prophetic vision for the rest of Europe, then the rest of the world.

Many countries would go on to heed this warning far more seriously than ours did, subsequently our health service and economy has been playing catch up on central government decisions for almost a year now.

And although I wish (SO much do I wish) it had all never happened, it does feel important to document some of these memories.

We were heading out to explore the city and to visit Café al Bicerin, a location that played some important key roles in forming the Italy and indeed the Europe we – and particularly women – know today. They also make incredible Zabaglione. More on that in another post 📯

Here is the news.

‘Virus, the great fear’

‘Three victims, increased infections, the north stops schools, pubs and nightclubs. Supermarkets taken by assault, speculations of record prices for disinfectants’.

‘Economy: losses of one million every day’

‘Turin hospital is behind curtains’

‘In China, first tests for a vaccine’

‘Serie A in the balance, thinking about games behind closed doors’ (the very last line is a football update about Juve and Lazio)

I would normally pick something like this paper up, to move it out the way of someone slipping on it, but after this photo and the public trampling on it, I just pushed it to one side with my foot.

We didn’t know how it spread.

We didn’t know much at all.