Thursday 6 January 2011

Water and Light.

I've written before about my perverse love of cycling in the rain. I'll admit, the last few days of drizzly grottiness have tested this a little, but not broken my commitment to my conclusion. I do however prefer rainy cycling after the sun has gone down than under the heavy steel-grey skies of day. At night the addition of a large quantity of water to the urban landscape changes it for the better. I never get over how beautiful all the lights look on slick streets.Taxis leave twin scarlet wakes on the black canvas. It is naturally occuring abstract art, glossy streaks of white, red and yellow, with the occasional pool of aquamarine green-for-go. It is such an underwater green anyway, isn't it, that most friendly traffic light? Slightly greener than a swimming pool, green like the sea in a hidden caribbean bay.

Yesterday the view was made even more interesting because I had forgotton to put my  contact lenses in. The droplets splatterd across my glasses refracted the lights even further, making my own private kaleidoscope. Not great for safety, I'll admit, but oh so pretty.

Image by Stefan1024

3 comments:

  1. Bespectacled cycling in the rain always makes for an interesting visual experience!

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  2. Nice "refractions" on London rain biking! I actually visited London (I'm from the U.S.) two weeks ago but didn't get to bike there. I did get to pedal round York though....

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  3. @Ben-York is SO lovley to cycle around, and very set up for it. Bit less of an adrenaline sport than cycling in London!

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