Boston Nearly Deserted; Wayland Quiet but Open, Residents Say

Wayland, along with the rest of the Boston area, woke up Friday morning to nothing short of surreal news:

Their hometown -- where their Red Sox and Bruins play -- was in a state of high tension as law enforcement searched for a 19-year-old man suspected of working with his older brother to carry out the Boston Marathon bombings.

Dzhokhar A. Tsarnaev, of Cambridge, was suspected of being on the run in Watertown, prompting the governor and police to shut down access to and from the city and issue "shelter in place" advisories for residents of Cambridge, Newton, Belmont, Watertown and later Boston and Brookline.

Tasrnaev's brother and alleged accomplice in the bombings, 26-year-old Tamerlan Tsarnaev, was killed during a shootout in Watertown overnight Thursday.

But what did all this mean for Wayland?

Well, with the MBTA and commuter rail system shut down, it meant that people wanting to use that form of transportation into the city for work were out of luck.

And, according to some Wayland Patch Facebook page users, it also made for what appeared to be a quiet morning in town.

Lori Greenburg said at about 9:30 a.m. that she'd seen "maybe three cars" drive by her home off Old Stonebridge Road since 6 a.m.

Greenburg went on to say that she would consider doing some grocery shopping today, "But I am not driving out of town..."

Cheryl Kreinbring chimed in at about 10:30 a.m. that "Wayland is pretty quiet. Whole Foods is open. Karma Coffee Roasters is open."

Patch heard from another reader that it was "Pretty normal - with the edge of all this craziness," at Wayland High School this morning. Athletic teams were practicing and preparing for games and matches.

At least one Wayland business, Orange Leaf, decided to delay it's opening on Friday. It will open, according to a Facebook post, at 3 p.m.

What are you witnessing in Wayland today? Is there a different feeling to things even if it does seem "pretty normal?"