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.