London has seen so much turmoil over the last couple of millennia, so much change. One of the key reasons I love the city so much is that the history, the city’s story feels vivid and alive, as you walk its streets, new and old. From Roman invasion to Norman conquests, rebellion, fire, and two world wars. London has deep scars to show for them all.
The metaphor of war has been used a lot in recent months as we attempt to tackle the effects of Covid-19 and I get why we fall back on this language, hoping that such rhetoric will inspire the people to rise up, united against a common enemy. Its powerful stuff, and perhaps it works, I hope it works. Certainly, for those who are working in hospitals and other frontline services (see I’m doing it already), this must certainly feel like a war, there have been many fatalities, unnecessary ones due to the lack of PPE. However, for a great many of us who are staying at home, social distancing, furloughed from work it is certainly difficult, even unpleasant, depressing, and financially perilous. But is it a war?
Comparisons with history are almost always a minefield but whilst we are on the subject: during the Blitz, homes were destroyed, entire families were killed by a single bomb, the very real threat of death was just around the corner, day and night. Again, for those who have lost loved ones, for the medical professionals who are dealing with this pandemic 24 hours a day, the impact must be overwhelming but for the rest of us… The most common complaint I’ve heard in recent days is that there are overly long queues at B&Q and a shortage of celeriac.
I found myself re-watching the Brad Pitt film, World War Z last week, in a moment of depression it managed to boost my morale for an hour or two. Yes, we’re in a dreadful situation, life feels unrecognisable from a few short months ago but at least there isn’t a hoard of teeth-gnashing zombies running past my front door, or worse still, through it.
Side note: What happened to the traditional zombies that staggered slowly around, bumping into furniture and grumbling about brains? The modern zombie seems to have had one too many espresso’s and could give Usain Bolt a run for his money in a 100-metre sprint! Where was I?
Film companies have traditionally paid exorbitant amounts of money for the chance to film in locations like central London or New York without the crowds, forced to film in the early morning or the middle of the night to avoid tourists waving eagerly into the camera and ruining yet another take. I am reminded of the early scenes in 28 Days Later as Cillian Murphy’s character staggers out of hospital and onto the deserted streets of London. It's haunting. On a cycle ride through London just as Lockdown commenced, I was reminded of this particular film, as I looked around London at the empty streets, normally teeming with office workers and tourists, crammed together in a way that seems oddly quaint now.
There are cities across the world where the lockdown has already had a number of effects, not just on the spread of the virus but the way in which nature can quickly regain control. There has been a multitude of sightings of Goats, Pumas, Kangaroos, Dolphins, Coyotes, and Deer venturing back into urban areas now that we have gone into hiding like a scene from another post-apocalyptic gem, I Am Legend.
The environmental impact of the virus is another by-product of the world grinding to a halt. In London, the pollution levels have dropped due to fewer cars on the roads and flights being grounded. I can’t imagine this will last. The animals will do a runner as soon as we are back on the scene, and no doubt the pollution levels will get back to normal at a worrying speed but for now, the air is cleaner, even if we are unable to enjoy it.
This pandemic is wrecking lives, it is taking lives across the world and destroying economies. I am not a fan. I am not a cheerleader for Covid-19, I wish very much that we could have avoided this whole sorry mess, but sadly we can’t. We must attempt to find the positive, some silver lining amongst the chaos and devastation.
Covid-19 will hopefully serve as a wakeup call not only for governments like ours that were woefully unprepared for this outbreak but for people like me, who read of these threats, of global catastrophe and quietly assumed that such things would never come to pass. I’ve seen all the movies from Outbreak to The Day After Tomorrow to Deep Impact and logged them all together as works of fiction, not fact. Well, that quiet, calm bubble of ignorance I was living in has well and truly popped. If there is any positive to come out of this pandemic, then perhaps it’s the realisation that threats are real and dangerous. The cute animals will leave our cities soon enough, the pollution levels will shoot back up and continue to rise just as steadily as before.
The next catastrophe is already happening, it is well documented, we see it play out across the world on a regular basis in the form of forest fires, floods and melting ice caps and yet until now I have hoped and assumed that an eccentric scientist, (perhaps played in the movie by Brian Cranston), will come up with a way to reverse the effects of climate change so I don’t need to worry too much about it.
Well, now I’m worried about it. And it’s going to take more than recycling and a reusable coffee cup to sort this one out. With or without Brian Cranston. Or zombies.
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