city silent, 2020
Manchester City Centre, during the first 2020 UK lockdown.
March 23rd 2020, the country falls silent. People are dying, a pandemic has started. We MUST stay home, Bojo has insisted. Workers are on furlough, the Easter half-term has come early. The students that can have already made their way home, the universities are closed. It’s only for two weeks, the pandemic will be over then. Thats what everyone says. Learn to bake sourdough and make iced coffee, pick up a craft, learn a TikTok dance. Two weeks turn to three and three turn to six. I didn’t make it home, I’m alone in this flat. Lessons are on Zoom, work is through Teams. I haven’t gone outside in weeks.
One hour of exercise a day, social distances. The once busy streets of Manchester, deserted. It should be exam season, but no one is studying. The library is dead. I’m still on campus. Traffic lights direct empty streets. 12 minutes into my walk and I haven’t seen another person. It’s eerie. Quiet, Silent. Clap for the NHS, rainbows painted everywhere. Abandoned gloves and masks in the streets. 37 minutes and still no one. It’s commuter time, but the workers are all home. I see someone cross the street to pass me. We MUST social distance. 57 minutes and one person. Oxford Road and Market street, Wetherspoons, McDonald’s. All deserted. This once thriving city, silent.
