Everything has gone silent. Apart from the birds. Thank god. In the morning when they wake up you can hear them loud and clearly. The best music for waking up early. Everything else is quiet. The trains barely run and I don’t hear any brakes screeching, the streets have emptied, there aren’t any bawling hockey or football fans below my window. The disco near me has become silent and its noisy customers have disappeared. When I walk through the empty streets most of the time there is too much of a ghost like silence for a city. No music, no loud voices, no laughter, no fights, no honking of impatient drivers.
Yesterday when I returned late from my stroll, I heard a loud bang. A bottle of champagne had been opened. Perhaps a birthday party. I jumped up from the loud noise in the silence. A month ago, I probably wouldn’t have noticed it.
What is left is the ringing of the church bells and the few running trains. Other than that, it has become very quiet. I don’t like ‘Ballermann’ and when it used to get very loud, I used to swear. But the silence that in the beginning was pleasant now seems like a threat. It means a stillstand, a loss of wealth and insecurity.
We all somehow have arranged ourselves. There was no other choice. Sports exercise is done at home. Yoga mats are rolled out in the living room. Bread is home backed. You cut your own hair at home just like my mom or cousin, both nearly 80 years old. As it is the first time for many the result is accordingly. But to be honest, who cares?! Where you live as a couple or more one is named as the hairdresser and gains experience with each attempt. During the video conferences I observe the new hair styles and the results of the efforts. No, it isn’t perfect but during the hardship you can do a lot and for many the hair tie comes into use. Mostly then when the trust in the ability of their loved ones in this area is limited. I also tried it as a hairdresser on my own hair but let’s be honest for me too there is a lot of space for improvement.
The neighbour of my mom has completely isolated himself and doesn’t leave his house at all. He gets everything delivered and his mistrust towards the outside world is unlimited. My incredible mom has managed to buy herself a new phone and fridge during the past three weeks. But it is an interesting phenomenon, that the objects give up their ghost when you need them the most. Her fridge had turned into an unreliable freezer and it suddenly stopped being usable for general cooling. She managed to install the new phone and got her pc to work again. I am always astonished to see how she manages to learn new things and to successfully put them into practice. Very often then when it really needs to be done because it doesn’t work without those things or skills anymore. Mostly also there where she before fought against it for years (mostly with a saying that you cannot teach an old dog new tricks).
I think we all feel that we now need to learn a lot, to improvise and to try new avenues. It is linked in with frustration, failure and time expenditure. Somehow in the end we always manage anew. That gives me hope.
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Michaela Merz 