With our Brave New Reality now firmly in place, let’s all wave goodbye to this list of irritations…hopefully!
Having been asked to write up a list of things that I wanted to see continue even after the strict quarantine had ended, I was given the prize of writing about the things I’ll be happy to see the back of. Many of them are already melting faster than a snowman in Cúcuta.
Worry
There’s been many things to worry about in recent months, being stopped by the police on your way to the shops was one. Although there was a soft-touch approach from the police in the end, you never really knew what rules they might enforce – and when. That’s hopefully a thing of the past, as it’s unlikely that things will get tougher from here on in. We appear to be on solid ground now. Random ley seca is hopefully not going to descend at the drop of a hat, for example.
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Military police
As a fully paid up snowflake liberal, I just don’t like seeing people in camo jackets wandering around my neighbourhood. Hopefully, it’ll be back to something approaching normality now and we can leave the threat of jackbooted thugs to other countries.
Zoom meetings
Well, they’re probably not over for a lot of people, but the end may well be in sight now. Quite a few people will be back into offices over the coming weeks, as Bogotá switches to the allegedly famous 4×4 model. I for one am looking forward to the possibility of working face to face again.
Curfew
With the lifting of quarantine by area, so we have no more curfew. It’s already been nice to step out after eight in the minty fresh area and not be confronted by silence. One of the nice things about the last few months has been an increase in community feeling and Bogotá is lovely in the cool evenings.
Online shopping
I imagine a lot of people will continue with this, but I for one am looking forward to getting back into shops and being able to pick things up and see exactly what I’m looking to buy. Plus, of course, it means more opportunities to channel money back to small enterprises rather than big outfits. Some local tiendas have done well out of lockdown but many non-essential shops have suffered.