The winter walking season is all but done.
I have this weird thing where I quite like walking around in the dark and the cold. With two dogs needing to be walked most days of the week, I have plenty of reason to get after it in the morning. And I most like getting after it in winter.
Of course, I don't live in Tasmania, so it's pretty unusual to hit a morning that’s brutally cold, but I'm happy taking the hounds out anywhere north of zero. Once or twice a week, I like to get away on my own, dog-free, and just enjoy the walk. Sometimes, I'll listen to a podcast or an audiobook; sometimes, I'll work out what I'm going to write that day. I might even record a couple of notes about a chapter structure or a character arc. And, of course, I've mapped out all of the early morning coffee joints, some of which are open by 5:00 in the morning, so I can get a head start on my fix for the day. It's weird, given that I spend my entire working day by myself, but I really do enjoy the lonesomeness of walking around before the sun has come up. Like nobody's had a chance to fuck up my day yet.
I took this photo last week by the river over in West End. It's a decent enough picture, I guess, but the morning was stunning. The rowing crews emerging from the fog on the river added a nice eerie touch.
Unfortunately, I’ve learned that fog on the river means my cold morning walks are coming to an end. There must be something about the microclimate around that part of town, but a foggy river pretty much always means a hot day to follow.
Sure enough, the temperatures have climbed into the mid-30s. I'll soon be back at the airconditioned gym for my morning workouts, and the dogs will be taking their strolls at night.
As much as I am vehemently not a morning person, there is something magical about going for a walk in the dark and cold in winter. I'm weirdly resentful of the transition to spring when mornings are that little bit lighter, and a little bit less cold.
It's been overcast and raining in Perth for weeks, and over the weekend we had a gloriously sunny day. So sunny that when I left the house to run errands I was bamboozled by all the light, it felt like I'd fallen through a wormhole into a different universe. "WHY IS IT SO BRIGHT??" I screeched to my BFF when we met up for lunch. She also found it to be utterly unacceptable, and yearned for the dark and the cold again.
"I quite like walking around in the dark and the cold" and any such comment of course requires a 'call that cold" from Melbourne. But I agree, some of my most treasured images of cityscapes are those taken in the cold bare middle of winter.