I watched the movie Midnight in Paris the other day and in it, the main character was explaining to his fiancée that Paris looked better in the rain. Perhaps he had seen too many prints of Delacroix. I enjoyed the quirky little film as that time period reflected upon in the film will always be of interest to me. However, it was the main character’s assertion that stuck with me yesterday.
Do you associate weather with a particular place? Does weather make a place better? On holiday, you hope for good weather, obviously. Who wants their vacation to be rain and clouds? When people think of my country they more often think of snow than anything else, but that isn’t true for most of the year.
When I think of cities the contrast between day and night is much more evident. Osaka by night is such a different place than Osaka by day. Even Toronto by night has a very different feel.
All of this was swirling in my head when I got off the bus to make my way home on foot last night. I hope the picture caught the beautiful scene I experienced and meditated on as I walked. The fog had rolled in and muted all colours of the streetlight and Chinese grocery store. The dark wood bark of the trees became deep shadows. The park became unending as it lost boundaries to the dark and grey. Even the cars seemed isolated from my sidewalk oasis. I had an entirely different world all to myself.