Wilton Drive, October 15, 2014, at 6:24AM

The inherent strangeness of the act of being somewhere when nobody else is around can be a feeling thick enough that you may cut it with a knife at times.

We're finding ourselves being able to go to malls that were rendered empty and dead as a result of the Republican Induced Great Recession of this decade, and you feel yourself in the footsteps of people who were there before you.  You are able to walk and hear echos of times gone by, lives lived, and the joy of celebrated events.

This is most definitely not a dead mall.   This is a thriving shopping district.  It simply is waiting for its daily awakening.  People are out and about and caring for their properties, starting their work days, and opening shops for their daily business.

I have the pleasure of this scene almost every morning.  Getting up well before dawn, my faithful sidekick Rack, my McNab Dog, by my side, I am able to choose my route.  Many mornings, I choose this particular route.  I am able to walk through Wilton Drive, a place of what shall be instead of what was.  A hopeful place where people come from all over the world to visit, enjoy our sights, and partake in our enjoyment.

Those who have lived here for any length of time have heard the stories of how you could fire a cannon down Wilton Drive at one point and never hit a soul.  Now to do that would be almost impossible or at least highly improbable.  You would have to get up well before dawn to even consider a chance of it.  In this case, I wasn't the only person out there as there were others on this same block just out of view.  Even in the pre-dawn, there are people out enjoying the sights - although most of us are tethered to our own canine companions.

Now that things are getting better in the economy, it is a place of hope.  It is a place where it is almost completely occupied and business is thriving.  It is also home to many.  People go about living their lives, visiting neighbors, telling tales, and seeing the sights having chosen this place out of many to be.

It is waiting for the next step, perhaps a redesign of the business district is in order.  This would make this more a friendly place for those of us who do indeed live here, and care for its presence.  Time shall tell whether we of this quirky little island paradise have the strength and vision to make those decisions.

But for now, it is home.