The code red in Bucharest brought a surprise: an important character, who had disappeared for a long time, unexpectedly returned

Extreme emergency alert sent by ISU at 4:20 a.m. he woke up a part of the citizens of Bucharest. At exactly the same moment, something unexpected happened, which was only found out in the morning: in Bucharest, the word “thank you” came back. We rediscovered that we are neighbors, not political enemies.

Traffic is moving in Bucharest, despite the most intense snowfall that the city of 2 million inhabitants has seen in the last many years. A lot of people went to work. They advanced along the small streets, used as footpaths. They traveled underground, with the subway, or on the boulevards, partially cleared of snow. Regardless of their political color, the town halls worked through the night. Some administrations have been more effective. Others, less so.

A city without insults

But people generally have a good attitude not only to each other but also to authority.

There is a big difference between the fun and discontent of now on Facebook and TikTok and what is really happening in the city.

I've been driving quite a bit this morning and haven't heard much of the usual swearing. Forgotten scenes came to life: travelers understand the bus driver that he could not stop at the station. And hardly anyone bursts into policemen in cars with flashing lights, who are doing their job and not letting cars block the boulevards.

It is as if the need for the day and the practical purpose have brought back the common denominator. There is also collaboration in the capital of a country that is already suffering too much and without the blanket of snow that has covered its southern side.

The word “thank you” is back

The alert at 4 in the morning surprised, annoyed, but it no longer became “Arafat's” bench subject. You can be angry, but when you're taken over, it's the worst. Even meteorologists are no longer ironic.

On the streets, the word “thank you” is back. He had disappeared not so mysteriously a long time ago. Character that no community can live without, but only life, “thank you” is back in human interactions. Men and women with their heads under their hoods let each other pass on the paths cut in the snow. People look at each other. I step back if the stairs are wet. And they put their hand on the shovel that is not theirs, to give a helping hand.

It's not just politeness, but also a minimum of solidarity, which seemed hard to imagine in the climate that gripped Romania, especially since the fall of 2024. Following the code red, in a really difficult situation, now on the streets I haven't seen “globalists” and “extremists”, how they suspect and accuse each other. I saw only cold people, tired of partisanship and concerned to free themselves and the city. Even at the cost of helping each other.

The difference between what's on social media and what's on the streets

There is also bad news: the rail traffic is very late. There was no landing or takeoff at Otopeni airport on Wednesday morning. Some probably didn't do their job. But no community can be flawless at such a time.

And in Berceni, and in Militari, and in Piața Victoriei, it is snowing. And the free spaces, created by the neighbors, on the sidewalks, join each other, moving forward difficultly throughout the city, like a mysterious white line.

Sure, it just seems like a one-day episode. Ice forms under the packed snow. Hatred and repudiations will begin again. It will promote the pointing finger at the hysterical and interested sideboards of some of the television “news”. The pathology of social media will recapture the public mind once you get past the immediate need. What a paradox. We will breathe a sigh of relief that we escaped and then make life harder for ourselves, in the absence of a common adversary, be it snow.

But we were notified: at least in the face of a special situation, Bucharest survived not only the snow, but also the partisanship. Maybe this is the real Code Red.