Step to the rhythm; Step to the rhyme

My favourite time of day is between 3 and 4am. It has been for years.

I think I was 18 or 19 when I first realised that I was a night owl. Night owls are misunderstood. People who aren't night owls never understand the idea that maybe life continues after 'bedtime'.

It is a little weird for night owls, as well. They don't have the easiest life. Always being accused of being lazy because they sleep late; having a hard time getting routine things done during the day, like passport photos or paying bills. Strangely enough, I think the internet was initially harnessed by big business to tap into the night owl market. But I digress.

I am a night owl and I love 3-4am. The city sleeps at 4am. Some cities sleep heavier than others, but it isn't hard at 4am to actually feel streets that have been put to bed for the night. In St. John's at 4am, it is quiet. There aren't people on the street. The odd cabbie drives by, but, all in all, the streets are asleep. Side streets more so. You can walk down the centre of the road, enjoying a perspective, generally, not available during the day. Rarely, you will come across a window projecting the intermitant blue flickering of a TV screen or hear the music held close by the remnants of a party to remind you that the city hasn't been abandoned only moments earlier, but mostly all the houses sleep. Sometimes you catch yourself thinking, for a moment, that they all have been abandoned and you are alone. The last. And other times, you stand and try to picture who lives in each little house. Who are they and what do they do?

It is a little different in Toronto. The major streets never sleep. Buses run. Cabbies slow and barmp desperately looking for fares. Some businesses stay open late while others open early. Both need people and people need to get to work. But the side streets, the quiet residential roads, they are in deep sleep. Row upon row, street upon street of quiet dark houses. No sign of life except for the occasional light. People don't walk the side roads, preferring the light and trafiic of the streets that never darken.. It actually boggles the mind, the thought of just how many people are asleep at the exact same time. Mothers, fathers, children; each darkened doorstep holds someone at 4 am and most of them are asleep and dreaming. About what I wonder?