We took another stroll around Villanova’s campus today. The photo above shows one of the most heavily traveled parts of campus when school is in session.
Normally at this time of the year, there would be hundreds of students walking on the paths, perhaps a few students tossing a football or frisbee back and forth, and music coming out of the two dorm rooms shown in the picture.
Today, there were no students, no frisbees, no music.
Later that afternoon, we went for another walk around our neighborhood.
The picture below paints a stark contrast to the photo above. Normally, at that time of day, there would be very few cars on the street and in the driveways of our neighborhood. But unlike college campuses, where there is no one, our neighborhoods are filled with people hunkering down. Moms and dads are at home with their kids in the middle of a workday, just waiting for this pandemic to run its course. Older adults are at home, worried about what this all means for them.
I can’t wait until things are back to normal so that I can retake these photos to remind me not to take such simple things for granted.
Stay safe, and thank you to all the helpers out there…
A poignant post! Stay well!
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thanks, Carolyn! You too…
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Trying my best. And are you trying your best to still win the laziest man competition. Sounds like you were off the couch to take these pics so Oops! You may be failing at it. 🙂
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Well, kind of a little of each. The campus is less than a 10-minute walk from our house, but we drove our car to get there. That’s kind of lazy… 🙂
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Particularly eerie shot of a college campus in the middle of the day. Looks like a shot from a movie where somebody returns to a university trying to figure out where everybody went.
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eerie is a good word to describe it; fortunately the campus is so beautiful that it is still a nice place to take a walk
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I’ve not been outside our property for five days and the only car I’ve seen is the police doing a patrol. It’s quite something!
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I hope the restrictions are working. How does food shopping work? Are there shortages in the stores of certain items? I hope you are doing ok with the isolation.
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I hope you are taking every precaution you can with these strolls… Hahaha… Here, the government is being strict against people walking around with no reason. All in the spirit of controlling the spread of the virus.
It does feel surreal. It does feel like you found yourself in another world, or another time. When things does return to normal, hopefully we can look back on these events.
Truly, this is something the history books will be writing about.
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yes, i’m looking forward to see your future pics for a comparison and a sign of a return to normalcy. it is so hard to wrap my head around, each and every time i see scenes. like this.
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I’m hoping campus is back to normal this Fall. I guess Ann Arbor is quite different with most of the students having gone home.
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yes, it’s an interesting feel
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It is amazing that all the things we normally see have been so changed by something we can’t! Great post, Jim!
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thanks, Brad. Strange times indeed.
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The big question, Jim…. what will “ normal” look like?
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that is the big question; I’m guessing the new normal will look a bit different than the old normal…
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So surreal …kind of spooky…In some ways I am looking forward to a new normal I hope it meets my expectations
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I am sure you will adapt to whatever the new normal is.
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As will we all …albeit some better thn others but “That’s Life”
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How true.
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It’s really weird seeing the empty streets and I’m looking forward to things going back to normal too.
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Aren’t we all!
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Poignant observations Jim. I have not seen as many people walking in my neighbourhood as I have these days. Thankfully all are social distancing. I’ll have to take some pics. Thanks for the reminder.
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yes, lots of people out with their dogs these days…
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Stay safe, poignant!
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thanks, Saani! I hope you are staying safe as well during this strange time…
(sorry for the delay, I found this in my spam folder)
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I’m a homebody but I’m sick of waiting for this pandemic to be over.
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I think we all are; hang in there…
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Thanks Jim 😄
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Thanks for sharing Jim. A sign of the times.
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thanks, Richard!
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