This was shortly after 10.00am last Saturday.
It is somewhat chilling to see the streets in the centre of the city on a Saturday morning deserted. Hardly a car, a few buses and trams and a few stragglers coming and going to their workplaces. Or, like myself, out for the stroll. Each of the locations here are normally packed with people and traffic. Strange things happen in a city that is now silent. You can hear birds singing. You can hear the fall of your footstep. You can hear a murmur of conversation as you near parks. The air is clean. All very civilised. And strangers are chatting to each other (from a distance of course). Oh but the downside is eerie. It weirdly brings the economics to the fore.
Empty College Green reminds me of scenes from early photography when you never saw the people in the streetscapes.
Walking up Grafton Street my heart dropped when I could count the number of people on both hands. Who knows what the economy will be like after this is over.
(L to R) Grafton Street, South Anne Street, Harcourt Street. All photographed on Saturday 11th May between 10.00 and 11.00.
Daniel O’Connell, mounted on his monument on the eponymous O’Connell Street is doing his bit to combat Covid-19. He even got the hoi polloi beneath him to don face masks. But that seagull, cheeky git, just plain refused.
His supporter further up the street, John Gray, who was involved on the City Council in bringing fresh clean water to the city and helping to rid the city of earlier epidemics of typhus and cholera, is wearing his face mask too. James Larkin also is imploring the working man and woman to stay safe.
And maybe if I were to suggest to the powers that be…
Yes, we can all do our bit. Stay Safe. Stay Healthy.
Eugene Langan Photography, Studio Eight, 32 North Brunswick St., Dublin 7. D07 TWX3. Ireland
email: eugene@eugenelangan.com - tel: 353(0)872597907 - web: www.eugenelangan.com