My tour of an empty city

[Subtle_badger]

I watched a lot of movies growing up that showed London under attack or empty after some disaster, so I thought it might be"fun' to see the shutdown city.

It wasn't as much fun as I thought. First port of call was Hyde Park; that was lovely. It was full of evenly spaced families enjoying the day. I didn't take a photo of that. Next stop was Piccadilly Circus. That was movie-set quiet, but there were plenty of buses (mostly empty) and cars. Leicester Square empty was more dispiriting than usual; dustily depressing. Particularly the coming-soon Turkish restaurant - Bosphorus - with it's happy "now hiring". Who knows what will happen in the future?

So, on to Covent Garden. That's when it stopped being fun. There were some security guards, two idle ambulances, a short queue at a Tesco Express and - that was it. I felt a palpable ball of panic forming under my sternum. This sh*t is real.

I headed down towards the Strand, past St Paul's and turned around to go back along The Embankment on CS3. I spent half an hour at Parliament Square, keeping a houseparty appointment to meet some of my Everest climbing buds while admiring the statue of Lloyd George.

Headed back through Barnes, and saw that Marc Bolan's tree was observing social distancing: one mourner at a time. As I approached to take a photo, the mourner there moved away.

Anyway, thought I would share my day. It was a reasonably long cycle, but only a single trip, so counts as exercise under the current rules.

Note: it's possible not every photo in the collage was taken yesterday 🤨

[Damon1864]

Brilliant photos thank you for sharing. Have a good night and take care of yourself 😊 Bernadette and Jack xxxx

[OilpainterUS]

I ache a bit for you, Badger. It is real.

You take care of yourself. 🤗

[Sheperdess Maintainer]

That’s a powerful post. Thank you. In our homes I guess we mostly won’t see much change. Sure, we may have some differences but they won’t have such an impact as seeing places that are always busy so empty and silent as in your account. My views are rural. There are less cars in the distance, more lambs in the field every day this week and the stars 🌟 are incredibly bright in a strangely clear sky at night. This is noticeable but not dramatic. I’m glad not to live in a city, as facing the stark reality may leave me feeling quite down.

[elliebath Maintainer]

Great photos . As a regular visitor to london I can now imagine how it feels .

It is similar where I live in Bath, usually a very busy place full of tourists, students and shoppers. Now nothing. Even in the sunshine the streets are eerily spooky . With no other industry our local economy is dependent on tourism and overseas students .... I don't hold out much hope for either sector in the coming year.

[Leeleepuss]

Wow that must feel very spooky. Like Sheperdess I live in a quieter area and yes our village is very quiet, but cycling around deserted streets in London must feel very strange. It’s easy for us all to get wrapped up in our bubbles at home and not realise the severity of what’s happening out there.

[Subtle_badger in reply to Leeleepuss]

There were a lot of buses, but they were empty....i don't know if that makes it weirder or not...

[Leeleepuss in reply to Subtle_badger]

Yes I'd say so!

[Subtle_badger]

I'd like to thank everyone's restraint in not correcting my misspelling of Marc. Fixed now!

[Leeleepuss in reply to Subtle_badger]

Didn't actually notice 😬🤦🏻‍♀️