Two Sundays ago my wife and I were in Richmond, a city of approximately 200,000 people, and the capital of the State of Virginia. We were visiting friends, and as it was our first time in the city, they offered to take us on a quick tour of some of the main attractions. We soon discovered three things about Richmond: it has many historic sites; it is, for the most part, a clean, attractive city; and the downtown is empty on Sundays. Two hundred thousand people, and barely a handful of them downtown on a Sunday afternoon!
Now, the town in which I live is much smaller than Richmond. Take the population for instance. The Village of Sag Harbor has a year-round population of about 2,300. Even the School District, which is quite a bit larger than the Village has a year-round population of only about 6,600. You’ll notice that when I mention our local population figures, I always qualify them with the phrase “year-round.” The reason for that would be obvious if you were in downtown Sag Harbor with me last Sunday. Now, it is well known that our population swells considerably during the summer months, but I didn’t realize that all 199,999 people that I did not see in downtown Richmond two weeks ago, would be vacationing in Sag Harbor a week later.
The week-to-week contrast was startling. In Richmond one week, we could drive around the city unencumbered by traffic or even pedestrians, park when and where we wished, make u-turns with impunity, and have free and easy access to whatever we wished to do. One week later, in Sag Harbor, driving and parking were near impossibilities, and walking the length of our two-block long Main Street was almost as difficult.
I don’t really have a point here, unless it’s to say that Richmond is a nice place to be on a summer Sunday, if you don’t like crowds. Of course, Sag Harbor is also a nice place to be on a summer Sunday — unless you don’t like crowds.
To be fair, we did see a few people at a church in Richmond. One of them was quite agitated about something. When we saw him he was shouting, “give me liberty, or give me death!” I was so impressed that, after he settled down, I took a couple of pictures which I include here for your edification.
————————————————
Currently listening to: Harbor
