Walking along the blessedly deserted streets of Society Hill Saturday morning we were reminded of the morning of Jan. 8, 1996.
That day Philadelphia and the entire region were in complete shutdown mode, the result of a record 30.7-inch snowfall. Snow had muted and enchanted Center City.
The quiet of Sept. 26, 2015, of course was a different nature, as evidenced by the stray emergency vehicle and the presence of guards in camouflage.
But Spruce Street, even South Street, where we saw a guard offering to buy a homeless man coffee, belong to the pedestrians and bicyclists. We walked in the middle of the road with impunity.
As so many other folks around here, we wonder if all this security has been over the top. In the court of common sense would terrorists or a lone actor say, "Oh, darn, the expressway's closed; let's forget the whole thing.
But for one precious morning, we were grateful the side effects of the papal visit.
And we didn't have to shovel a single inch of snow.