Man travels the Monopoly route during London lockdown
A man has spent time in lockdown travelling round and photographing the Monopoly route in London.
Sharing the images and his experiences of each location on Twitter Dan Barker, explained he stumbled across the idea after taking the train down for work a few weeks ago.
Having finished his work by early afternoon, he spent the next few hours travelling the Monopoly route while he waited for his return train at 8.46pm.
“I thought it would be interesting to photograph London at such a unique time,” he tweeted.
A few weeks ago I was in London for the day. I took the first train down, & finished work by early afternoon.
My return train was at 8:46pm, so I spent the afternoon going round the Monopoly route.
I thought it would be interesting to photograph London at such a unique time. pic.twitter.com/4hGmXQUOym— dan barker (@danbarker) June 15, 2020
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As well as the images he’d taken, Barker also shared some interesting facts about the various locations.
“Vine Street is now a tiny little alley – a minute's walk from Piccadilly Circus, but I doubt even many cab drivers know where it is,” he shared.
“It used to house a large police station, until that was merged with the one on Savile Row.”
He also revealed lots of the usually busy locations were deserted.
“Leicester Square. At one point I sat in the square for about 5 minutes, nobody passing. Possibly the only time you'll see M&Ms World closed,” he wrote.
“Covent Garden has been deserted,” he wrote about another location. “Quite lovely in a strange way. In normal times, if you walk Covent Garden at 5 or 6 in the morning it's quiet like this; over the Covid period apparently all of the time.”
Whitechapel Road. pic.twitter.com/Whf5Lnunmd
— dan barker (@danbarker) June 15, 2020
Kings Cross Station. pic.twitter.com/vgLkPzhu6O
— dan barker (@danbarker) June 15, 2020
Pall Mall. pic.twitter.com/uCdfTETrVZ
— dan barker (@danbarker) June 15, 2020
And finally, the last square on the board, Mayfair. pic.twitter.com/p4sUCZ01QT
— dan barker (@danbarker) June 15, 2020
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Having shared the images to Twitter, people were quick to offer up their own experiences and images of London in Lockdown.
Great photos Dan. I’ve been taking a few over the last couple of months. It’s been a rewarding experience with the streets much quieter than ever before pic.twitter.com/MeC9immnnf
— Phil (@Unofficial_Phil) June 16, 2020
a lovely thread and brilliant set of photos Dan, many thanks for sharing. x
— Jo ✨ (@jo_bazz) June 15, 2020
Thank you so much for this fab thread. I love your images & commentary.
— Natasha Akhtar (@Natasha_Akhtar) June 16, 2020
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Barker isn’t the only one to be using lockdown to fulfil an unusual project.
Chris Woodhead, 33, from London has found a unique way of recording his time in quarantine by giving himself a new tattoo for every day spent in coronavirus lockdown.
The father-to-be has been inking various quarantine-inspired tats on himself each day in isolation after the tattoo studio he works in was forced to close due to social distancing measures.
Another family have built their own tiki bar in the garden after the coronavirus lockdown ruined their holiday plans.
James Herriot, 32, his fiancee Veronica Sullivan, 34, and her son Josh, 15, usually jet off to Majorca, Spain, at this time of year, but the COVID-19 pandemic ruined their plans.
So they decided to bring a bit of holiday fun home by building their own bar in their garden in Kelso, in the Scottish Borders.
The family made use of old wooden pallets and bamboo fencing to craft their bar, which they placed beside their hot tub in a bid to emulate a relaxing ‘holiday’ setting.
Meanwhile a British couple on lockdown in Spain have been keeping themselves entertained by wearing a different fancy dress costume for every day of quarantine.
Their amazing costume parade has seen the couple dress as everything from bungling burglars and gormless gardeners to French fashionistas and deep-sea divers.
As well as entertaining their friends and family in the UK, the couple have been thrilled to hear they’ve also raised the spirits of their fellow expats.