From the city to the countryside or the emergency for a less exciting life

Continuing with the reflection started in the previous post,¹ where we quoted the former mayor of Madrid when she said that “the city takes care of you”, it is true that this has been the case, although its density, continuous interpersonal contact and the public transport have added up to a large amount of infected people who had to be taken cared for, compared to the few who needed it in places where the density is irrelevant and the possibility of infection was only possible if an infected person coming from outside came to the place.²

What has happened has taught us that one can work, better or worse, in many cases from home, reducing the tiresome work presenteeism at offices that spoils family reconciliation. It will be possible to stay at home and get the work done or be prudent and not go to work if sick, more often than before.

The disgrace and sadness of the epidemic will be there for a long time. However, we may give more value now to things that we previously took for granted. Any occasion will be much more special and there may no longer be any lightning trips for meetings that could well be held by simple video conferences, nor weekend getaways to see an opening in London or enjoy a musical or sports event in another European capital.

The idea seems sad and life is less joyful, no doubt, but these trips and other less frequent habits now will make us wonder if all this was necessary or, on the other had, just reading a good commented catalog and a virtual visit or a concert at home, as many platforms and even organizers of musical events are successfully proposing these days, will suffice as substitutes.³

We will have to give up on things that will make our lives a little less exciting but will also make it worth the individual efforts- economic, organizational, time – but also collective ones -pollution, transportation, damage to the planet, risk of contagion – which are needed whenever these regular activities occurred until now.

Perhaps, as in the book Los asquerosos⁴ by Santiago Lorenzo, “we will be those who go to the countryside with the clumsy mentality of the city dweller or urbanite, who wants to do the same there but with a different landscape in the background. Then, we will have earned, as it happens in the book, the right of being called mochuflas,⁵ because we will not have learned anything. But if this misfortune makes us better in our relationship with the environment, perhaps this infinite sadness would a tiny relief.

Cover image: Photo by the author Paco Casas (Brijuni Architects)

Text translated by the Author Paco Casas