Friday open thread: contrasts

[dolorosa_12]

It's school holidays in my part of the world, and as I've been out and about a lot more than usual, the profound effect this has in various physical spaces is incredible. A short list:

Trains to and from Cambridge for work have been half empty, whereas normally I'm fighting for a seat in a heaving crush of people, especially in the afternoon

The footpath when I walk to and from work is completely empty, whereas normally I'm navigating around a seething mass of secondary school students

The roads in central Cambridge are completely empty, whereas normally they're gridlock

My bus ride home today (I caught the bus instead of the train) was in constant motion instead of being stuck in crawling gridlocked traffic

Most astonishingly, the swimming pool where I do laps four mornings a week has also been half full each time, even though my fellow swimmers are not school-age children, but rather other adults — most of them retirement-age

In other words, the contrast between life during school holidays and life ordinarily is stark, and immediately visible. It's what's inspired my prompt this week: can you think of a situation of similarly stark, concrete contrasts?

Comments

[author_by_night]

For sure... always wonder that people in those towns do the rest of the year.

I've been to waterfront towns that were quieter in the off-season, but in one case it was a little different because it was close to a medium-sized city, and also in the southern US, so it stayed reasonably warm. Going to those towns instead of staying in the city proper is actually pretty common. Another time it was a much more remote town, and definitely quiet in the way you describe.

[dolorosa_12]

always wonder that people in those towns do the rest of the year

I read a book about this recently (a cultural history of seaside resort towns in the UK), and the answer is — cope badly. They're already among the most deprived parts of the country, and it doesn't help that most people would prefer to go to the sea on holidays around the Mediterranean these days, which adds to the difficulties of these British towns.