“I’ll miss the cleanliness of the air,” I say. “I don’t mean just the spotless streets and the fact that everyone changes clothes every few hours, and always looks so freshly pressed and laundered. I don’t mean even the shine around things, which makes you feel as if you’re seeing every last surface through freshly polished glass, framed by doors and screens as in a lens. “I just mean that people don’t feel the need to smudge every moment with their signature. When it’s hot, they don’t say, ‘It’s warm enough to roast a chipmunk in the streets!’ or ‘Phew! It’s hotter than a squirrel on a
...more
