Covid Chronicles - Lockdown Tails from Tuscany: Isolation in Italy - Corona in Cortona

Hazel Murray, Sky News Weather Presenter for 13 years, and former Flying Eye for Capital Radio, recounts her experiences, with her four dogs and two cats, alone in rural Italy, for 85 days of lockdown. Italy was where the pandemic really started in Europe. No one knew how things would pan out. She decided to write a blog, to raise money for her local stray dogs' kennels, where she is a volunteer. Like Topsy, it grew... to a book… with all proceeds again going to Canile di Ossaia.
This delightful diary, with myriad photographs, is both funny and fascinating, intelligent and insightful. Imagine Bridget Jones's Diary crossed with James Herriot's All Creatures Great and Small; laced with a generous taste of Tuscany, and
always with a view on the virus worldwide.
Local author Frances Mayes, (Under The Tuscan Sun', says, Brava, Hazel, and all the great volunteers who so generously and lovingly support the rescue home for dogs. This mission is truly important and deserving of support for all of us. And if you can’t adopt, you can have the pleasure of taking dogs for walks. Dogs are loyal friends for us. Let’s make sure our local canine citizens are well cared for. Frances (former owner of a Cockapoo, now owned by two cats)
Hazel's stories include working at Wimbledon as line judge, journalist and broadcaster, and entering Chelsea Flower Show - and winning.
This belly dancing expat OAP delves into a potpourri of subjects, including politicians like Trump, Johnson and Cummings; Covid heroes including Sir Tom Moore and Marcus Rashford; and local Cortona celebrity popstar Jovanotti.
She also describes her lockdown DIY disasters - both flooding and then almost setting fire to her kitchen - and cogitates on subjects as diverse as snails, mice and bumblebees, finding wonder in nature in all its guises. She talks about the ups, and occasional downs, of working at the kennels; and most importantly, the joy of living with and observing her animals during those strange days.