random thoughts – Day 1,552 – (Tuesday) – downtown filming

There were alerts issued about a downtown street closure for filming today. The closed street is two blocks from work, but there was a lot of parking either coned off or filled with production company trucks in the nearby streets. The Walking Dead: Dead City has been in town filming at a couple locations around downtown. Unlike previous film projects over the years, we couldn't see any of the action from our office.

Movie scene on Market Street.

There was a chance to walk over to the filming site during the afternoon and again after work. The stretch of Market Street between Palmer and Shattuck Streets was littered with dirt coated cars including a yellow New York taxi, a New York police car, and a box truck labeled with “New York Post.” Other cars were positioned as if bumped up to a lamp post or into each other. There was litter in the street and faded, tattered New York banners hanging on lamp posts.

Toilet truck!

There were quite a few people hanging around on the sidewalks looking at the scene and taking pictures. There were no people who appeared to be actors, but lots of crew along the edge of the street under black tents with equipment, and Lowell police officers at the end of the block where the street was closed. A shiny white portable potty trailer was parked next to the sidewalk. 

It was overall quiet. And hot, because the heat wave rolled in and the temperature was in the mid-90s having risen 20 degrees since the morning, exactly as forecast.

Back in the office, the air conditioning was doing an admirable job of keeping the place comfortable. Work chugged along. During the afternoon, there was stretch of more siren noise than usual. Then there were text alerts on all of our phones about the 9-1-1 system being down statewide, and then being operational again. There were also voice mails on my phone with the same information for “residents of the city of Fitchburg.” Unfortunately, I keep getting the Fitchburg alerts I signed up for when I lived there and can’t figure out how to make them stop.

Over at the deck.

After work, the giant white light box that had been positioned earlier at the end of the scene on Market Street at Shattuck had been relocated to Merrimack Street. Now it was positioned on the far side of the building with Subway, facing the deck near the canal and where Salsa dancing happens on Sundays. A few guys who looked like movie crew sat on a bench, and other regular looking non-zombie people sat on benches reading and typing on their phones. 

Two blocks away on Market Street, the cars were still in the street, but the sidewalk, which had been passable earlier, was blocked off with caution tape. The sidewalk on the opposite side of the street was lined with people who seemed to be waiting for something to happen. A girl in a light blue dress twirled on the sidewalk. 

It was hot and I didn’t join the ranks of the people hanging around and waiting for something. Instead, I headed for my car to hang around at home in air conditioned comfort, free of any potential zombies.