Derby and the COVID-19 Pandemic

I decided to focus this blog on derby during the COVID-19 pandemic. I wanted to experience how the pandemic had affected the way the city functions, and how the night time economy has been affected too, so I went on two walks, one in the daytime and one at night.
My Daytime walk:
Me and my partner started our walk from our house, we live 15 minutes from the city centre so I was curious to see if things had been effected by the government enforced lockdown or if the city was going to be as busy as normal. As we were walking, we immediately noticed how quiet our street was, as its normally busy during the day. We also noticed the rainbow drawings in people’s windows, it put a smile on our faces knowing that people were showing their support for the NHS and key workers during this horrendous time. We started to walk towards Friar Gate. We strolled past the Greyhound Pub which we had spent many a Monday evenings doing the pub quiz, it unearthed feelings of sadness, as much like Stevenson’s theory, every building in a city has an emotional connection to us, it hit me that it might be a very long time until we would be able to enjoy a pint and a trivial quiz again. My partner made a comment that the streets seemed like a ghost town and how airy the city had become. This reminded me of Harvey’s – Right to the City and how the lockdown restrictions haven’t just affected us individually but as a community because to a certain extent our freedom has been taken away. We then made our way to Tesco’s as we needed a few bits. We queued like everyone else, keeping the to the two-metre distancing rule. I thought to myself how strange it was, I had never had to queue to get inside a supermarket before and I wondered how long all this would last. This reminded me of Sharon Zukin’s theory and that COVID-19 has and may in the future still, changed our culture and how we operate within the community. Me and my partner wanted to get what we needed and get out as quickly as possible. Within 20 mins we were out and, on our way, back home. It wasn’t long until we found ourselves back home, we got in and washed our hands straight away, we then had a conversation reflecting on everything that was going on at the moment and how things had changed.

My Night time walk:

On our night time walk, my partner and I decided to walk to Markeaton Park. I wondered if people were behaving differently outside of the city centre as it is a less crowded area. The vibe of the streets was completely different at night, it was even more of a ghost town and it was extremely creepy. There were a few people jogging and walking home from work as we walked towards the busy road next to the park. As we approached the busy A road, we made a conscious decision not to press the crossing buttons, therefore, we had to cross without the assistance of the traffic lights, which surprisingly was very easy as the road wasn’t as busy as it usually was. As we crossed the A road I found that we were getting judgmental looks from the drivers, I wondered if it was because they thought that their reasons for travelling were more important than ours, which they probably were, however, everyone is allowed out one time for a form of exercise. My partner mentioned that they may not be judgmental looks, but looks of some sort of validation? They were looks as if to say ‘if they’re outside the house and enjoying a walk then it’s okay if I go out too’. We also noticed that the McDonalds sign wasn’t lit, I had never seen one not lit up before so it was really strange to see. Once we had crossed the road, we approached the entrance of the park, it was pitch-black and spooky, I felt nervous and it was very anxiety provoking.  I thought to myself that if I was on my own, I would not have chosen to walk through the park at night. However, as I was with my partner, I felt safer. This reminded me of Barbara Schmucki’s article ‘if I walked on my own at night, I stuck to well-lit areas’, as walking around at night is very different emotionally for females as it is for men, as there’s a sense of vulnerability for women at night. Once I was home I only recalled seeing four people. Overall, it was really relaxing, just what I needed with everything going off as ive been quite anxious and unsettled since the COVID-19 lockdown.
To conclude my walks made me realise how real this pandemic is and how much the way in which we live our lives have changed and may still change in the future, and also how it has changed our economy and how we use urban spaces.