Beyond dwelling to possibly revelling

Things are no more the same

There are so many things two months of total lockdown have changed in our lives and I had already put myself into a kind of seclusion for two weeks already whilst the government tried to figure out how best balance their public relations against essential public health.

The many things I have missed range through socialising, human interaction, travel, eating out and basics of human touch, from handshakes, hugs, kissing, conversations with strangers and dare we say copulation, though I will have to wait a lot longer to experience the emotionally rewarding qualities of that with my beau.

Last night, my neighbour slipped a note under my door asking if I would like to meet up in our courtyard for drinks. We had over the last three months had conversations in the secluded long corridor of our apartment wing with the suggestion we have drinks together.

Our little neighbourly drinks

The weather permitting today having been quite dull for most of the day with a slight chill, it was convenient for us to meet in the courtyard, their ground floor veranda looking out onto the meeting place. She brought the wine; I brought the chocolates from Groot Constantia and the four of us conversed for just over 2 hours.

That was my first social event in months, and we think we’ll do it again next Sunday. Whilst we sat there, other occupants of the village walked by, some stopping for conversations beyond the greetings. There was one who had lived there for 26 years and we were just meeting for the first time, I having spent over 6 years in the village.

More social beings than apartment dwellers

We have a large village of 5 apartment blocks, but hardly a community that knows each other. I cannot identify more than 7 people I share this village with. This is the kind of society I live in. We were inadvertently social distancing long before it became a requirement for our safety, health, and wellbeing. We have settled into being just apartment dwellers when there is more that unites us in this situation.

What needs to change in our psyche to create more neighbourly acquaintances, I cannot say, but I have always been proactive in know my immediate neighbours. It is very likely that as we adjust to the changes that would greet the new world of existence, some adjustments would come to give the village less of occupancy of apartments and more of there being lived in by people.

Our little courtyard gathering.