Improved recovery when the connection is closed in an atomic block.

        self._dirty = False

        # Tracks if the connection is in a transaction managed by 'atomic'.

        self.in_atomic_block = False

        # List of savepoints created by 'atomic'

        self.savepoint_ids = []

        # Tracks if the outermost 'atomic' block should commit on exit,

        # ie. if autocommit was active on entry.

        self.commit_on_exit = True

        # Tracks if the transaction should be rolled back to the next

        # available savepoint because of an exception in an inner block.

        self.needs_rollback = False

        # List of savepoints created by 'atomic'

        self.savepoint_ids = []

        # Connection termination related attributes

        self.close_at = None

    def connect(self):

        """Connects to the database. Assumes that the connection is closed."""

        # In case the previous connection was closed while in an atomic block

        self.in_atomic_block = False

        self.savepoint_ids = []

        # Reset parameters defining when to close the connection

        max_age = self.settings_dict['CONN_MAX_AGE']

        self.close_at = None if max_age is None else time.time() + max_age

        Closes the connection to the database.

        """

        self.validate_thread_sharing()

        # Don't call validate_no_atomic_block() to avoid making it difficult

        # to get rid of a connection in an invalid state. The next connect()

        # will reset the transaction state anyway.

        try:

            self._close()

        finally: