Zero milestone

May 11, 2020, 06:58 PM

Washington DC lockdown sound recorded by William McKenna. 

"I started working from home on March 19th when it became more than obvious that we all had to isolate ourselves. 3 weeks later, I had to get out of my apartment. I went for a relatively long walk with no real plan other than to take my cameras to capture some images (photos and video) of what has become a Ghost Town. I almost immediately headed towards the White House. It was a beautiful Spring day but the streets were mostly empty.

"I had remarked to a colleague earlier in the month that my walk to work was a mixture of anxiety and, surprisingly, some joy. There were very few cars on the road so I was able to hear things that I rarely could hear on my daily walk, like birdsong.

"I walked past the north side of the White House which was full of extra security. Getting a picture of the front of the building was going to be difficult especially considering that there was construction going on because Trump has decided to make the tall, black fence a few feet taller.
Go figure.

"I then walked around the back of the White House until I got to a spot where I had an unobstructed view. I placed my small, consumer video camera on a small stone marker. I had never really looked at it before. It's called The Zero Milestone which measures the distance of all roads in the U.S. or something like that.

"It seemed appropriate to name this audio file "Zero Milestone" because, in a sense, the White House - and especially the current angry occupant - has an incredible influence not only on the lives of the cantankerous constituents of this troubled Democracy but also the lives of so many people all around the world.

"Stay safe, WM"

Part of the #StayHomeSounds project, documenting the sounds of the global coronavirus lockdown around the world - for more information, see http://www.citiesandmemory.com/covid19-sounds