The city between appointments
essay · 2026-10-30T12:00:00Z
I had twenty minutes before the next appointment. Too little time to begin anything, I thought, and then enough time to notice a whole street.
An ordinary street, given a little more attention.
The useful detour
Without a destination to hurry toward, I began to see the small arrangements: a chair turned toward a window, a shopkeeper sweeping the same patch of pavement, a shadow reaching the opposite wall.
A spare moment does not have to be filled to be used well.
I took the longer route back. Nothing remarkable happened. That was almost the point.
A few lines before the details disappear.
Later, I wrote down three things I remembered. Not a report of the day, just a way of keeping its edges from becoming smooth.