If you lived through the consumer boom in Ireland during the first decade of this century on of the subtle but pervasive feelings you had was the status anxiety of not owning new stuff.
You always felt that the people who threw broken stuff away and bought the “latest” thing were in on something you weren’t. Like being the kid who was sick the day long division was explained to the others.
Like the lame kid in the pied piper of Hamelin story.
Now the dust has settled and a level of normalcy has returned it’s reassuring to see people fixing things up to keep them going.
In Italy they never had to rediscover this knack so there is a gentle joy in seeing an anti consumer mindset amongst ordinary people. The all ride old bicycles.
The Beirut Taxi 