The Back of a Secondhand Bookshop
Not the browsing, the sitting. Some bookshops have a chair at the back, and the ones that do are offering something more useful than books.
-
-
The Park Before the Dog Walkers
There is a window of roughly forty minutes between a park being unusable in the dark and being fully occupied. Learning where it falls in each season is most of the skill.
-
City Cemeteries Are Public Space
Large Victorian cemeteries are among the biggest and quietest green spaces in most older cities. Using one respectfully is easier than it sounds.
-
The Phone Question
Not a lecture about screen time. Just what actually worked after trying most of the obvious approaches.
-
Glasshouses in Winter
A botanic garden glasshouse on a cold weekday is warm, humid, almost empty, and unlike anywhere else available in a city.
-
The Business District on a Sunday Morning
The part of the city built for a hundred thousand commuters is empty for two days a week, and it is architecturally the most interesting place to walk when nobody is in it.
-
Standing Outside a Bakery Before It Opens
A small ritual that costs about twenty minutes and is, as far as I can tell, the single easiest way to make an ordinary morning feel different.
-
The Chapel in a Building That Is Not a Church
Hospitals, airports, and some universities keep a small room open for anyone who needs it. They are almost always empty, and using one does not require you to believe anything.
-
The Churchyard, Not the Church
City churchyards are small, walled, usually empty, and require no engagement with the building at all.
-
What to Carry
A short list arrived at by carrying too much for two years and then too little for six months.
