Sunset in the city

Monday, October 15
6:15 pm, nearly dusk

I’m in my great sitting place just enjoying the breath of it all, something I do about every other day. This is the best place to watch night descend on the city. I love that here I have the kind of time to really enjoy things like this. I got home and climbed straight up here without going to my room first, so it isn’t really like I’ve arrived home yet even though I’m sitting on top of my building.

I look down and see the busy evening traffic, the cars lined up waiting for the light to change on Nyerere Road. People are walking below me across the way by the park, home from work, home from school. Its busy below, yet I am separated from it all in my own little world. I am up about 5 or 6 stories with my feet dangling over the edge of the landing where all the building’s satellite dishes reside. I am almost even with the tops of these huge trees. Giant beautiful black and red birds glide overhead and land in the branches of the trees right in front of me. In the gap through the treetop where I’m sitting I can see the skyscrapers of the city. The evening sun has cast a brilliant orange light on them. Jackavin (or some word like that) trees are in bloom everywhere with their tiny yet vivid indigo blossoms, covering everything when they fall. A crane or a stork flaps away nearby every once in awhile. The birds are beginning to head home. Meanwhile the sky gets deeper and deeper blue while the moon begins to rise and the AON Insurance company behind me turns on its giant white neon sign. My shoulders are growing chilly and the skyscrapers in front of me no longer have their dazzling orange vibrancy. The cars down below have now cleared out and just drive by in a constant stream. The men in the street selling sim cards, car mats and snacks have gone. The streetlights down below me illuminate the darkening sidewalk. The cars still stream. The people still walk. Life goes on.