A ghost city

So it’s 9:30 am on a Monday and I’m in downtown Toronto for the first time since March.  I’m here because we were assigned one day which we could come get anything we left at the office before shut down, since it will likely be a long while before we’re back.  And, well, I left my computer.  lol while Citrix is awesome for occasional usage it’s really not holding up to full time work.

So okay - the first challenge was how to get here.  Trains are only running once an hour and I was really not sure I wanted to attempt public transit so I checked the traffic before leaving...  35 minutes?!?!  That’s like middle of the night drive time.  Driving it is...

Now I hate driving in the downtown core so fully planned to park at one end and walk (it is 30 deg and sunny out :).  The hwy moved the whole way to the exit ramp.  Seriously - free range speed until the Gardner and then about 80 till my exit.  Exit for Spadina was packed and it was stop and go from there to Front st.  But Front was clear?!?!  Of cars AND pedestrians - it was really eerie.   Had half a garage floor to myself...   Walking the rest of the way to work I passed maybe 4 people?!?   To put in perspective, on a normal day at this time there would be hundreds.  Even right outside Union was deserted.   

There would usually be bumper to bumper cars and
a couple hundred people in this photo

Indoors masks are required, outside seemed to be about 50/50 usage, and the “hanging around the neck for when I go inside” style was being rocked by a good portion of the population (myself included).  To be fair - there were so few people out, social distancing was easy.  I saw more people walking the dogs this am.

I did learn the new life skill of how to tie the mask so it sits snugly when on but hangs loosely when dropped down.  Win.  

In the office again - just deserted.  Where I’m used to hundreds of people and having to fight to get anywhere was an easy stroll.   The elevators had signs for 4 people max - which does not enforce social distancing at all, but was irrelevant as I was the only one there.

Prime time on a Monday and not a soul to be seen

I had a brief moment of concern that my badge wouldn’t work - both cause it’s day one of the “you can go get your stuff” trial AND because my badge had broken and I still had a temp.   No idea if they’d expire!  It seems not...

I did hear one horn honk - so some city people are clearly still out an about ;).  But mostly it’s eerily deserted.

And now for my return commute...

Lol edited to add - return commute was harder than expected - doors to parking lot were locked so I had to find a different entrance...

Still no problem - I had foreseen this and taken a pic of my area - E1.  Great right?  Except I went to the second entrance I know and it was also locked.  Asked random stranger and got directed to a third entrance that worked!  Woohoo!  Except I walked all around E1 with no car :(.  Finally decided to go ask parking attendant (thankfully still there!) and told him I parked next to the stairs and where the stairs let me out; he told me it was actually an attached garage (ironically I’d wandered into the RBC parking?!?) - I had to go down to E3, cross a barrier, and then I’d be at my E1...  Lol so down 2 flights of stairs to get to level 1.  Not sure how that worked but his directions were perfect and my car was right where it should be.