Ok Covid Lady, you are challenging us to rethink our way of being. Good for you! It was high time.
Seriously. People, how much longer can we keep up this frenetic pace?
I just read in the Boston Globe that maybe cities are not the greatest place to live after all.
That's a tough one. I grew up in cities, and travel to cities when I want to go somewhere on vacation, because I live in the country. I love walking in a city, and all the cultural offerings of cities, not to mention all the random stuff that one sees, just sitting on a park bench or at an outdoor cafe. I will never forget, just to name one random sighting, back in Amsterdam, a great city to people watch, but also to savor all the ways people travel on two wheels, an Irish setter sitting upright in a front basket of a bicycle pedaled by a man behind him. I wondered how the human could see behind the head of his dog!
During this moment of isolation and confinement at home, I am ever so grateful that I live in the country. We can walk as much as we want, and we can drive to other places to walk. We do not have lines going into supermarkets. Things are pretty chill for the most part. I had trouble finding seeds for the garden actually. That's fitting.
I can talk to my neighbors outside their homes when I pass by. That has led to some lovely moments of socializing, which I savor and which have made me appreciate more and more the neighborhood where I live.
-----
This period of low consumerism has made me reassess my proclivity to spend money on things I really do not need. My daily trip to the closet makes me face my overabundance of clothes. And that is only the beginning. How much air travel can this planet endure? How much road travel? It's so lovely that animals have regained "droit de cité" quite literally.
Before it all went into shut down mode, I bought a grey jacket at the local Talbot's, literally on the last day that they were open before the big lockdown. I felt sorry for the salesperson who looked super stressed out. At least, that was my excuse at the time.
It's so strange to dress up for almost no one. My students see my head mostly, and maybe, if they are at all interested, they take a closer look at what I am wearing.
Jackets will transition me into "old" age which I put in quotes because I don't quite know when that will begin. Sometimes it feels like it already has. The body certainly is sending a message. When the monthly paycheck ceases, a year from now, that time will mark yet another milestone in my ascent to old age. I'm glad to be ready with those jackets waiting in the closet. They make me feel like I need to accomplish something today. They are the antithesis of sweatpants.
-----
I have been riding our free bus to work mostly because it's there, it's almost empty, and I want to keep it going. Taking selfies with my eyes directed sideways has become yetvanother "hobby" of mine.
That face says a lot though, like, WTF is going on? And what will happen when all this is over? Will we go back to our old ways, I certainly hope not. Will we wear masks in crowded public places? Already mask wearing is beginning to feel normal.
Fortunately the blooms in and around town are a beautiful distraction from the ugliness of the politics surrounding Ms. Covid and who is responsible for it. I name her female, because it's so much easier to blame a woman, doesn't it?
In the meantime, here's to the beauty of spring everywhere and anywhere that you can find it. Including in the city.
No comments:
Post a Comment