This will be demolished for more condos

I'm not saying that this building (it's the Village Shopping Plaza located on the corner of Robert Burns and Cote St-Luc Road), and another in front of it, are now or ever were attractive but there was a restaurant here and other businesses, plus offices on the upper floors (not visible here). People worked here, socialized here, bought stuff and sold stuff, had clothes made here, had their hair done here, bought food here, had a daycare here, sold antiques here, had a life here. You can't keep every building; out with the old and in with the new. But had this building been maintained it would still be a viable part of our community. But the land is worth more than what the present building was bringing in. There is also an empty lot for sale across the street (Westover and Robert Burns) from the Terrasse Robert Burns Restaurant that is also for sale. The empty lot, like this building, has a Hydro Electric pylon running across it. Great view from your living room window. 

On one level we are condo-saturated; on another level we are building condos for foreigners to buy and in some cases not to inhabit but to sit empty. Some of these condos will be Airbnb, party time places for tourists but not a way to build our community.  

What a dump.

This is all falling apart.

Buildings on the left and right will be demolished; that's a condo across the street.

Good Friday morning on the Loyola Campus

It's quiet here on the Loyola Campus; classrooms are empty, dorms closed, library closed, no students on campus for over a year. 

 

Facing Sherbrooke Street West, chapel on the right

The Vanier Library

Main administration building

April 2020, at Strathearn Park

16 April 2020

 

April 2020, our dystopian calendar

 01 April 2020

The empty streets of March

The lock down was solitary confinement for many people; they couldn't stand the isolation. Most people are to some degree extroverts and need the presence of other people. The importance of socializing impressed itself on us; now socializing was restricted, wash your hands, wear a mask, social distance, no two cheek kisses, no hand shakes, avoid walking by anyone you might pass on the street. Arrows on grocery store floors directed people on walking in aisles, you walked in the direction of the arrow; if you lined up outside a store you were instructed to social distance from other people, two metres, six feet between people. Behave yourself, now, we don't want any trouble out of you... 

                                       

Can you take me back?

Can you take me back where I came from? One pre-Covid day I found myself singing this Beatle's song to myself as I walked along the street. Whatever it meant before Covid, it now has a whole new meaning.

                            Can you take me back?
                            Can you take me back where I came from?
                            Can you take me back?

                            Are you happy living here honey?
                            Honey are you happy living here?
                            I ain't happy living here baby
                            Honey can you take me back?

                                             --The Beatles, "Can You Take me Back"

Except for essential services, most stores, restaurants and schools were closed beginning around March 13, 2020. Grocery stores and pharmacies remained opened; at first there was some panic buying as can be seen by these empty shelves at our local IGA grocery store. The streets were deserted, buses had no passengers, we lined up to enter grocery stores, the fun had been taken from life and it has not returned. 

Not as widely reported was the increase in the number of suicides; there was one suicide a few blocks from here, we drove by the scene of this suicide a few minutes after it happened. I saw the body of the deceased lying on the grass surrounded by police officers. There was a second suicide also a few blocks away from where we live. Both of these suicides were at residences for old people. How could it have been otherwise? The old were isolated from other people and confined to their rooms.  

 

Our empty pandemic streets

Staying at home, businesses closed, the streets were eerily quiet in March 2020; it was hard to believe that there were people living in those apartment buildings and houses. Many people didn't go outside, they were afraid of being infected by Covid-19, or they thought they weren't allowed to leave their homes. I continued with daily walks and saw very few people.