This is a weird reason to dislike cities

[notreallystars]

I miss the stars. I hadn't thought that was what I would miss most about living in the countryside - I expected it to be the wildlife or the river, or maybe the proximity of wild places. No. I miss being able to go outside at night and gaze up at a sky full of stars. I don't know the names of constellations, beyond the Plough and Cassiopeia, but that was never really the point. There's something meditative about looking up and seeing how vast the universe is. There's something reassuring about feeling how small we really are. I don't know how to find these things in a city.

I could drive out of the city at night and find a dark place, but going looking for the stars sort of defeats the point. They used to just be there, on a clear night you couldn't help seeing stars.

Comments

[alexseanchai]

I am having Feelings about this? like, life being so very fast-paced and noisy, and the thing where the list of species that are becoming more nocturnal in order to avoid humans includes Homo sapiens, and light pollution generally. and I wouldn't call where my parents live "countryside", but Dad can do some astrophotography from his backyard telescope setup, and he still thinks nothing of driving forty-five minutes to get to the nearest place with actually dark skies in order to do serious astrophotography. (provided he doesn't have to work in the morning.)

[notreallystars]

That sounds amazing, I'm so jealous. I do love the moment when you look up and see how full the sky is. And avoiding people by becoming nocturnal sounds like an excellent plan for every species!