We went today to the annual pre-Christmas lunch of the regional Italian Circle. These are always pleasant occasions, and I was looking forward to it, anticipating a rush of enjoyment as we enjoyed the rare opportunity of some sociability. I was puzzled at first to find that the experience was really rather flat in comparison with previous years.
Reflecting on this as we drove home I began to believe that, in fact, we are all more ore less in a state of depression as a result of the restrictions on social activity imposed by the current pandemic. This was, surprisingly, a rather encouraging diagnosis of the situation. Recently I have been feeling very dissatisfied with myself because of the lack of real progress in my artistic projects. If my general understanding of our situation is correct, however, the problem is far from being one that is exclusive to me and to which I ought to respond by simply getting my act together. We are all in the same predicament. My feeling of deflation is nothing unusual and no more than a specific expression of the same general malaise.
In the case of today’s particular experience in the Italian Circle, I think that many of us were feeling particularly hard-done-by because visits to Italy, although technically possible, are now such a hassle that nobody in their right mind would think of attempting it.
As the poet Louis MacNeice once wrote, however, “There will be sunshine later.”