Back to normality. What normality?

Every now and then our friends and family ask us: “Is Paiporta slowly getting back to normal after the tragic floods?”

My answer would be yes and no. It depends on what you mean by that.

Back to normal before the date of the devastating storms and their consequences? Then it would be a clear “no”. Back to the “new normal” of yesterday and the day before yesterday since 29 October? Yes.

What does the new normal look like? Here are some examples:

1. My wife has decided to clean the staircase of our building every morning because it gets dirty every day with the mud stuck in it from all our boots. It is a lot of work. The younger ones, who cannot or do not have to work yet, do other chores.

2. From 10am to 1pm I am almost every day waiting in line, either at the pharmacy to pick up the medicines ordered, looking for a bucket of water or somewhere to get some food to heat it up.

This morning I met the wife of the butcher, where from time to time we used to buy very good hamburgers. After a brief conversation, she told me that it would be months before her shop could reopen.

3. While in the queue, I told the woman in front of me that we were running out of fruit and vegetables. And she already knew where to get them as she “saved” my place plus 6 litres of milk in the queue.

Everything is distributed for free, although it can be a dietary change that does not lead to a very "controlled“ diet.

4. The flood did not respect the hair salons either. Today I passed by the salon of my hairdresser, Raul, for a moment. The door was open, the interior was dark and there was no furniture or the usual special seats.

At the entrance, a brown line showed how high the water had entered his shop: about the height of my chest, i.e. 140 cm. If there is no other solution, I will soon look like I did in my youth with the Beatles' typical “mushroom heads”!

5. In the basement, where there are 40 parking spots for the residents of our building, there are also the storage rooms on each floor.

First we had to pump out the water and mud from the basement, and we were not able to access our storage rooms for 15 days. Among the things down there in the dark and mud were two instruments and some handmade Christmas nativity figurines.

We could only half-save the trombone and the violin went straight into the rubbish.

6. My description of our “new normal”, which will remain abnormal for weeks to come, could be read between the lines as complaining, but in my mind it is exactly the opposite, I feel grateful.

And when melancholic thoughts arise, I immediately visualise the plight of many people in other parts of the world.

The inhabitants of the Gaza Strip, who are forced to flee from one place to another with only the bare necessities because their politicians have decided to wage war against each other. And without the daily luxury of standing in a queue to get food.

On the other side are the Israelis who live on the Lebanese border and whose normality has been the almost daily firing of rockets for years.

The normality of entire generations in African countries that have known only war or poverty. Widows and orphans in Ukraine, in Russia whose normality is the inconsolable loss of loved ones to a war that has no meaning for the rest of their lives.

Parents who believe in God, whose normality is to see their children starve before their eyes and who have long lived in despair at Jesus' promise to his disciples: “Therefore I tell you, do not worry about your life, what you will eat or drink, or about your body, what you will wear. Is not life more than food, and the body more than clothing? Look at the birds of the air” (Mt 6:25).

I want to conclude with a hopeful normality for all those who put their trust in the eternal God and in his Son, Jesus Christ, who gave himself on the cross for our sins.

The normalities in this world, be it in Paiporta, famine, war-torn countries, etc., are all temporary.

Our Creator knows no time-bound world. He promises His followers a future far beyond what we can perceive with our senses. In the last book of the Bible it says: “He will wipe every tear from their eyes. There will be no more death or mourning or crying or pain, for the old order of things has passed away”. (Revelation 21:4)

Personally, especially in the sometimes loathsome normality of this world, I have the joyful expectation that at the end of my earthly life - who knows - I will be greeted by a welcoming team of deceased and faithful friends and relatives, and that together we will worship our common God... forever!

Arnold F, .a resident of Paiporta, one of the areas most affected by the floods.