Today, I’ve started my morning with a walk and then set off to begin my day in the city. The city isn’t far from where I live and it’s on my way to uni/work and so I stopped in for a coffee and a change of pace. I used to stop in here late at night when I would spend all my time using the university computers.

There’s definitely that little bit of novelty about being in the city, usually only when I’m up on the balcony of one of the buildings looking out over the one of the busy intersections. Compared to in the dark, late at night as I sip on a coke, sitting up on the balcony in the morning drinking a coffee isn’t as relaxing or interesting. I like the cold air and don’t mind the clicking of the ibis feet on the roof next to me but the droning of the morning news from the massive TV down further that way is like ugly white noise. I think it’s harder to people watch as well. There’s less of them and though most are on their way, the ones that stay in view are sitting and relaxing and so it becomes hard to watch them for too long. Especially because they can actually see me… sometimes the thoughts of a writer come out on the page sounding a little shady.

The four buildings across from me are four different sizes, styles and colours. Pink and teal, cream and emerald, grey and darker grey and then brown brick. They’re so flush against each other that I can’t even tell what was their first. Though distinct from each other, they appear almost connected at the sides. I can’t tell if it’s charming or hideous. I can say, however, that the fifth building along has either been there since 1874 or the company that used to reside inside of it is that old. That building is pink, white, deep magenta and swamp green. Bizarre colour palettes going on here, but I wonder if that was in style back then- whenever they were made.

The chilly air has moved my fingers to pull my hood up and now I probably look more suss than I already did.

A lot of the sounds just blend in, sounding like morning traffic, the type where there’s just so much that it sounds like waves constantly rolling. Like a man-made ocean of steel and industry. And then occasionally it sounds like a really loud suitcase being rolled in the airport. I think that’s someone’s air ventilation.

I didn’t care for the city when I was growing up but have come to be almost content with it. I like the city ‘aesthetic’, but that’s more because I like smart casual as a style and stationary, and so I love blazers and offices and the city are full of those. I think it would be interesting to work or live in one of these massive buildings but I know that I eventually want to live my life out on a property somewhere, if my preparation for that goes well. But, even as I write this, the idea of sitting up in a high-rise apartment building writing as I look out the window at a city I find both ugly and beautiful doesn’t sound too bad.

My coffee tastes like the shot was left on the bottom and didn’t mix with the rest of the milk at all.

It’s kind of interesting that, the more I think about how much I don’t like something, the easier it is to see what I actually like about it. Although, that’s really limited to places. The more I think about how much I don’t like a person, the angrier I’ll probably get. That’s mostly because it’s directed at ‘famous’ people and so there’s not really a way to vent that. It’s easy to say ‘just don’t look at the news’ but that’s also just hiding from bigger issues that particular people might represent.

I can’t tell if sitting here would be better or worse without the radio playing up beside me. Part of me thinks it sounds out of place because of how distinct it is from the world around me but it’s playing that king of music that’s kind of nice to have backing your idle hours, or at least what I’m doing.

I am going to have to get a move on, though, as the cold is making my nose run and I am out of tissues, I’m just getting by with the serviettes that remain in my paper bag. My coffee is finished and I ate all of my food way before I started writing this.

Oh yeah, one other thing you’ll hear in the morning in the city is the occasional sound of a vacuum. Sometimes it turns out to be a leaf blower, but from a certain distance they just sound the same. Probably not if you listen to the both of them frequently. A crying child is louder than the vacuum, but I’m not sure if it really is or if it’s because of that extra ‘sensitivity’ that I’m supposed to have to infant cries as a female. Anywho, time for me to move on to the uni now.