COVID-19 and confinement: next time something of the sort happens there will be no prisoners

My next place

To some extent I was prepared for this. I was lucky to have taken the decision to leave the city last year and be on unemployment insurance. So I had much time at my disposal to figure out what to do with the rest of my life. At first, in March, like most people, I was worried about things to come. My UI benefits were running out and wondered what would be next. And then we got the good news of the emergency payment for three months, no question asked, or almost. I decided earlier that I was once again leaving an apartment for something else because eventually I will find myself with as little as 700 $ a month to live on. I needed a cheap place.

A friend made an offer. It took me 24 hours to say yes because it involved not only to agreeing to a place at 200$ a month - instead of the 540$ I pay at this moment (which for most people is already very low for a 2 bdrms) - but it also involved to leave the city to a remote location. At the same time last year I wouldn't have thought that to be such a good idea. I was in Montreal and knew about that building in that remote location.

But now considering my situation it makes total sense. I know the village quite well and I know that building quite well. Last summer I was on its roof with the owner to spread tar to waterproof it. I also painted the outside window frames all around with him.

Ironically, last year though I wasn't thinking about that place. I wished I could find myself a loft, a place without walls. Well this place used to be first the general store of the village and then 15 years ago, a café. There is a second floor the owner used as his upholstery workshop. A workshop with a great view.

The view from the second floor

Since I already lived three years in small villages without a car, I know it's possible. There is a bus service twice a week that brings the people from the small villages to the bigger city to do some purchases such as grocery. The cost is the same that of any transit system in a metropolitan area.

So the COVID-19 phenomenon should be seen as nothing short of a miracle. It officially started about three months after Greta Thunberg held worldwide big rallies exhorting us with "our house is on fire". This miracle comes at a cost. It is a painful cost but one that even though we did not expect it to be like that, makes sense in our endless abuse of the planet in so many different ways. This tiny nanometer species forces us to stop everything, systematically everything. Nothing of the sort could have been achieved otherwise. Unfortunately, very few people will get the message and most will toss away any attempt at rethinking our place on this planet. It is sad because next time something of the sort happens there will be no prisoners.