Lockdown Day 22: Busy a Few Blocks Over
It's been quiet in my neighborhood during the lockdown. When I go out for walks, whether it's around lunchtime during the workweek, evenings after work, or on weekends, I see very few of my neighbors out and about. Back before the lockdown- in "the long long ago"- my neighborhood was quiet in the middle of the day, too, but back then most people were at work or school. Now the schools are all closed and most workplaces are, too. Going out for walks is one of the few things we're allowed to do outside our homes. Where is everybody?
One hypothesis I considered is that the homes in my neighborhood are empty. At any point in time some fraction of the homes are for sale, with the current owners having moved out already. Plus, some people may have fled to relatives' homes, vacation houses, etc. But here's the thing: as I walk through our dense neighborhood I see signs of life through windows and sliding glass doors. Tables are set, TVs are on, laptops sit open, people are moving around. Just everybody's inside. (Plus, owning vacation homes isn't a thing in our neighborhood. People who can afford second homes generally buy a posher first home first.)
The weirdness of our shut-in neighbhorhood hit me this evening when Hawk and I went on a walk to a different neighborhood. There we saw adults out for walks, parents playing with their kids on the public lawn, and more than a dozen people in the neighborhood park. In our neighborhood park I'm lucky if I see one person most of the time, and typically it's just someone letting their dog shit in the grass. 😡
One hypothesis I considered is that the homes in my neighborhood are empty. At any point in time some fraction of the homes are for sale, with the current owners having moved out already. Plus, some people may have fled to relatives' homes, vacation houses, etc. But here's the thing: as I walk through our dense neighborhood I see signs of life through windows and sliding glass doors. Tables are set, TVs are on, laptops sit open, people are moving around. Just everybody's inside. (Plus, owning vacation homes isn't a thing in our neighborhood. People who can afford second homes generally buy a posher first home first.)
The weirdness of our shut-in neighbhorhood hit me this evening when Hawk and I went on a walk to a different neighborhood. There we saw adults out for walks, parents playing with their kids on the public lawn, and more than a dozen people in the neighborhood park. In our neighborhood park I'm lucky if I see one person most of the time, and typically it's just someone letting their dog shit in the grass. 😡