I Love the Night Life

I love the nightlife, I got to boogie
On the disco ’round, oh, yeah

Alicia Bridges and Susan Hutcheson

Musings on a starry, starry night.

What is it about night that is so mysterious, so dangerous, so sexy?

This guy, leaning against his car, is none of those things.

“My god, it’s full of stars!”

“2001: A Space Odyssey”

Many songs have been written about the night, about darkness. I’m sure you could rattle off several without thinking about it.

Because the night belongs to lovers
Because the night belongs to lust
Because the night belongs to lovers
Because the night belongs to us

“Because the Night”, Bruce Springsteen and Patti Smith

Night is about rest, it’s about release from responsibility, it’s about finding love and losing love and adventure and danger.

Sometimes, it’s about trains.

Or waiting for trains, and enjoying the beauty of the night skies.

I find myself drawn to the night more and more for railfanning. Maybe I’m bored with daytime trains.

I like the challenge of night photography. There’s a certain technical skill required to get the focus right, get the exposure right, and even after that, there’s luck involved.

I’ve never been above the Arctic Circle (or below the Antarctic Circle) so I haven’t experienced a day without a sunset or a night without a sunrise. I think it would be very unsettling at first.

The story “Nightfall” by Isaac Asimov is about a planet that has never experienced night. Its six suns have always kept the surface illuminated, but an eclipse by a heretofore-unknown moon brings darkness to the world for the first time in 2,000 years. Uh… spoiler alert, I guess, although the story is 83 years old.

I can’t imagine a day without a night following, or a night without its day. It’s one thing we can depend on. That sun always comes back.