A man who moved to Luxembourg City last autumn says he regrets he’ll never know the city as it was before Covid-19, when it was certainly “full of smiles on every street corner.”
“Luxembourg is wealthy, safe, and clean,” says Luca Font. “Residents enjoy the fruits of good jobs, social welfare, and the sort of political and economic stability that people in other parts of the world can only dream of.”
Font says that despite all this, when he goes out in the city, everyone looks like their hamsters just died, or that they’ve just encountered a particularly smelly fart. However, he doesn’t hold this against them, he says, and he knows that what appears to be coldness is simply a consequence of the virus and its terrible effects.
Font admits that in his home county, people on the street also look miserable and don’t smile – although that’s because poverty is endemic, the government is corrupt, and life expectancy is only 34, he says.
“And yet I’m sure that before Covid, people in Luxembourg City were bursting with exuberance, the kind you see in old Hollywood musicals,” Font said. “You know, smartly dressed gentlemen in Place d’Armes, tipping their hats and saying moien or bonjour with a jump and a heel click to every woman walking by.”
“Women waiting for the tram in Kirchberg, singing songs about how great it feels to be alive, breaking into a delightful tap dance while other passengers clap and cheer,” he continued.
“I assume,” he added.