A look at walking

Here it is, 4 am, I'm not particularly tired, and I don't feel like doing anything. In days past I would have gone for a walk when I felt like this, but it's raining and I don't want to go outside. I've only been walking in the rain at night once since I moved to Ottawa, and it was a bit unpleasant because I wound up walking down the side of Baseline that doesn't have a sidewalk. I know better now, but I still don't feel like going out.

I started to wonder why I like walking at night so much. Sure it's cooler and less crowded, both of which are huge bonuses in my book, but are those enough to outweigh the bad parts?

For one, skunks are nocturnal and like to live in cities for the easy access to garbage. I saw it in Kingston, I see it in Ottawa. Fortunately most of the streets here are better lit than the ghetto was, so I can actually see the skunks before I get into spraying range. In Kingston you practically have to step on the skunk before you see it, so even that bad point isn't as bad as it could be.

Another thing, all the weirdos come out at night. Sure some people are just out for a walk, but there are definitely some creepy people around. I haven't seen many, but I know they're out there. Lumped in with the creeps are obnoxious drunks, who I normally only run into if I go to a Tim Hortons. They're especially bad around Steve's place, but he lives really close to Algonquin, so that's to be expected.

I'm trying to think of more bad points, but I'm out of ideas. I guess if I can only think of two downsides to night walking, and both of which aren't all that bad, it must be a good thing.

The world just looks different at night. Lights and shadows combine into unique visual tapestries, and things look so much cooler by moonlight than they do by sunlight. It's a colder, starker kind of light, which lets the inner beauty of everything show through.

I wouldn't trade it for anything in the world.