The Azores High and the Symphony of Pistons
I spent the first part of my life in the city, in a place with a lot of car and ambulance traffic. When I left for University, despite moving to a much larger city, I lived for 6 years in a house in a quiet area and learned to appreciate peace. The view of the rooftops was beautiful, and the silence was inspiring.
I then lived for a few years in a house in a busy area again, and I decided I would move to a quieter place.
Without listing the subsequent steps, I eventually arrived at my current home, in a quiet area. But here I've come to know a new phenomenon. It doesn't just concern this place but, in general, all the non-urban places I've frequented in recent years: the constant use of cars for laughable distances.
Saturday afternoon, with a bit of peace and 30 degree Celsius weather, I lay down on my bed for a bit after lunch, intending to rest a little, with the window open. The Azores High, increasingly rare in Italy lately (the African anticyclone, much more humid and hot, has been dominant in recent years), gave that sense of peace. I could hear the late spring birdsong, the warm air caressing my hai... er... face, the peace of a Saturday afternoon. All of this was continually interrupted by car noises.
I went to the window to watch and noticed that, in the end, it was the same 3 or 4 cars constantly passing back and forth. Many of my neighbours, like many residents in small towns, take the car even to go 200 meters.
And I remembered a time, a few years ago, when I made a sort of bet with my father-in-law: my wife and I would walk from his house to the pizzeria (a few hundred meters away) while he would drive. He went out, got into his car, and only then did we set off. We arrived at the door, and he was still maneuvering to park.
I wonder: why have people in small towns, or generally outside large cities, developed this dependence on cars even for minimal journeys? Is it habit? A perceived lack of alternatives? Laziness? A status symbol?
Many of them, when I've brought up the subject, couldn't give an answer. Perhaps in small towns, thanks to the ease of parking, there's still that very 20th-century philosophy of "only those who can't afford a car walk". But I'm not sure.
What makes me smile is that often people who live outside the city do so for peace and fresh air... and then they pollute and make noise just to go a hundred meters from home.
Sometimes, human beings are truly curious creatures to study.