online: 30 january 2015
modified: 30 january 2015

26 january 2015 outdoor cafe... i'm the only person here today...


...walked a few kilometers... passed some early crocuses... and was barked at by an alsatian-like dog who frightened me somewhat... and whose keeper put it on a lead... and now a rat runs swiftly past my feet... on its way to the shrubbery that surrounds the outdoor cafe...

...i feel lonely here today... yet enjoying a wintry peacefulness among about 40 tables and perhaps 100 wooden chairs... and beneath pale grey cloudy sky...

... i hear the door to the indoor cafe shut... it's supposed to close in two or three minutes... my pot of tea is now lukewarm... and a smiling man and woman come to sit and talk and laugh... if not to eat or drink... at a table far away...

...the empty chairs and tables have a so strong a presence that i can't imagine the dozens of people who often fill this outdoor cafe... with all their sights and sounds...

...dusk begins and all seems still and cold... it's time to walk away... past the distant city towers which look grey and lifeless before the lights switch on... as night begins so imperceptibly...




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