Enjoying the smaller things more often
I remember complaining about wanting to leave the city for a small village or at least somewhere surrounded by more green and less traffic pollution. In my younger years, I would have enjoyed city life in this city much more than I do now. Now, I enjoy the silence and walking through nature with the family. Although that's not been happening much lately. It's winter, and we're under a curfew so.
I have to admit, that before the first wave last year, we didn't do this as much as we should either, but the first wave of the pandemic has opened our eyes to what's important and that we should not take each day for granted. We should go out more and enjoy the weather and nature when we can.
As soon as the first wave and restrictions were lifted we went out to enjoy nature where we could. We didn't even wait fort he weekends, but also went out more after work during weekdays. Just enjoying the sun on our faces without the mask madness was a treat after these months mostly inside and with less sun rays on our faces. It was noticeable in our moods as well, we were in need for vitamin d!
Our city (like many others) turned into a ghost town
During the first wave, there was a point where we weren't allowed to go outside unless it was for groceries or medical reasons. I believe for work was also allowed, but most shops were closed, so the working group of citizens had reduced significantly because all shops besides grocery stores and pharmacies had the order to close for a certain time. Less people were on the streets during the rush hours and we had "elderly hours" where only our elders were allowed to visit supermarkets and pharmacies which made these hours on the street actually ghost hours.
What I used to do before these hours started, was go to the supermarket when they opened at 7 am, so I was the first there, and I enjoyed the quietness on the street so much while walking to the supermarket. I remember that for the first time ever, I smelled fresh air instead of traffic pollution on the way to the supermarket and I enjoyed it so much. At the time, I was mostly the only one doing the groceries as my boyfriend had home office and we tried to avoid taking our daughter to the supermarket, but only out for walks in nature when we were allowed.
This way I didn't need to stress about her touching things or constantly cleaning her hands, because just a month before the virus arrived here, she had been getting these infections in her eyes from school constantly and it didn't look pretty. It was quite the burden for her to have an infected eye constantly, so I was trying to avoid her getting that again. I felt it was plain wrong to tell a child she can't be a child and playing police officer over her when she was with us in the supermarket. So the easiest thing was simply not to take her. I could do my quick run through the shop and get home.
Nature could breathe again
We noticed our normally dirty sky, was clear as can be. No air traffic above us and no dirty pollution coming from the many diesel cars that made the city smell. Every time when I looked up, I felt happy that nature could take a breather during the restrictions and I hoped that somehow this period in a lock-down, the world would wake up to see that we should be kinder to nature from now on.
The world also learned that we didn't have to spend 5 days a week in the office to be productive and the hours of being stuck in travel of just traveling by public transport could be significantly reduced. I know of many people that stayed in home office after the restrictions were lifted, or now work either 2 or 3 days from home. This means, they aren't using public transport or a car to get at work on a daily basis which nature probably loves.
Ever since the first wave, I've never seen the subway as busy as before covid anymore. Not every job can be done from home, and of course these people have no choice, but we've seen a HUGE increase of people riding bikes since the restrictions after the first wave were lifted, I think this is a win for nature. Even though our city smells again (unfortunately).
I would like to be able to ride a bike again as well
It has been years since I had a bike, because I have never felt comfortable enough to buy one here, because we live in the city center and it's dangerous if you aren't used to riding one here. Although bikers don't need to ride the sidewalks anymore (thank god for that!), they placed bike lines throughout the whole city, I think with a small child it's still quite dangerous as the bikers are riding so close to the cars. I believe most cars are now finally used to the biker lanes, which was a problem at first (I can imagine as they were popping up out of nowhere), so that's good. But personally, I prefer having safer bike lanes where a car simply can't hit the bikers easily.
Instead of building more offices, create more parks
There are so many places where the offices are being build from the ground, while many work from home since the pandemic. Why not use this space to create (city) parks and have a green are to walk in for example for those at the office and are on a lunch break. I wish there were more parks where bikers can store their bike safely and go for a walk as well, because at this point, I would not feel comfortable to leave a bike anywhere in the city, not even in our apartment building where there are cameras. Security is available in every store here, and also in every parking lot, why would they not build parking areas for bikes / scooters with security. Even if this is for a fee, I think it would motivate a lot of people to take the bike, especially when spring arrives.
I remember how I loved biking back in the days
Although I'd be the only one doing so (my boyfriend hates it and wont ride one!) I long for these moments that I was riding my bike in the past, when spring had arrived and the sun was shining down on my face. Find a nice park, leave the bike there and go for a walk in the park, find a playground, enjoy an ice cream or something. This is something that I truly miss here. It would be so cool if the government would add these parking spaces for bikes with security to the biking lanes as I truly wish to avoid any form of public transport since the pandemic, I feel caught in my mask, and as if oxygen is taken from me. Last wave we didn't need to wear them outside, now we do, I can't imagine doing so during the spring or summer. I'd love to get more freedom with a bike, it will be a win win as it gives me some extra exercise, fun and fresh air
A lot of empty buildings, let's try to help the homeless!
As everyone in the world knows, many businesses have been shut down as they couldn't survive the first or the second wave of the pandemic. I reckon that it will take some years for people in general to recover from it. Why not use these spaces to accommodate the homeless? There are different places where they can go to but I heard that they are often not safe for them or because of their alcohol or drug abuse they aren't allowed in. Which I can understand, but there are also a group of homeless people that have lost their house because they lost their job. They simply couldn't pay rent anymore and aren't that far gone that they can't be helped.
If only they'd try to help these people by offering a place for them in one of the empty buildings. Or in those hotels and hostels that aren't allowed to receive guests unless it's for business. Why not offer them a roof over their head and food with some guidance to get them back at work?
Then we also have the other groups that need more guidance, but I think with some basic furniture, empty office buildings could be used for them as well. I'm not talking about putting them in the buildings and leaving them on their own while they may start using or drinking more, but also offer a sort of guidance like having a security at the door and a social worker available. If these people that are usually drinking on the streets to keep themselves warm being offered some basic help, I bet plenty of them would be motivated to make a change. Not all of them will be willing to do so, I'm well aware of that, but it would make such a huge change in our city if a part of these people will be offered some guidance to a better life.
This would also bring some relief regarding safety in our city
Many of us (especially women) have noticed that due to less (or no) tourists, gypsies and homeless that usually could beg enough to get food every day, started to get on edge more. They have been walking around in groups looking for trouble. Usually, if you notice them from a distance you could smell the trouble walking in your direction and if possible take a turn to another street. But often these situations have been rising up out of nowhere in a quiet tram where suddenly all hell broke lose and people were hit and/or robbed by a group of people. They didn't care about you being a man or women or that children were in the way, which made me consider not taking public transport anymore.
They create a scene and get off at the next stop, leaving a bunch of people flabbergasted behind and noticing they were robbed. By the time police would arrive, they'd be long gone. I started to feel less confident to be on the street even after sunset while that was still quite early. This problem started to exist because the tourists weren't here to offer money or food. Getting back to the last idea of the empty buildings, I think for those that are willing to make a change, this would make a change in an otherwise hopeless situation.
Conclusion
There are many things that would make city life better, but for me the motivation to stay in the city is still far away. It will always be crowded, even without the tourists, and I prefer being in a more quiet environment as soon as we can move while we enter city life only when we chose to do so, rather than having to face it daily because we live here. But for the time being, we're stuck in the city, so I hope there will be some improvements in the next months, and lifting of restrictions so that we can legally (lol) breath oxygen outside again.
Thanks for reading until the end if you made it this far, I know it was a long read!
See you next week!