Songs of the South-Side

Holy cow! I had a veritable explosion of comments on yesterday's post- and not a one of 'em were from people related to me, so it's like they count twice! Feels good to know that I'm not just writing this for the aether (and of course my fellow Photo-Anon member, Tim) (whoops, so much for anonymity... sorry...)

Anyway, it's raining tonight in Birmingham, the lovely melody of which is shot through with the occasional rumble of thunder, and of course the inevitable wailing of sirens. It's been a long, long time since I've lived somewhere in which sirens were not part of my nightly lullaby... and in this particular apartment we also tend to get a fairly regular infusion of blue-and-red lights creating our own private disco in the bedroom (I'm not sure what, exactly, goes on in the dwellings across the street, but apparently it rarely ends well...)

And you know, I write a passage like that, and maybe it comes across that we live (and I have lived) in rotten neighborhoods, but really that's not the case at all- we live in a positively lovely little neighborhood, and I hope to find one similar to it when we move back up to the PNW. It's just the way it goes when you live in a big city, I think. Granted, we live in what would be considered the original suburbs of said big city (our courtyard has trees- they flower!), but still- you know what I mean.

Nathan and I sometimes talk about where we'd like to live when we settle down- the pros and cons of urban living vs rural living (we both feel that true suburban living tends to slowly suffocate the artistic soul). They both have their appeal- there's a lot to be said for the walking-distance-convenience of urban life, not to mention access to culture and events and international airports. But then there's also a lot to be said for the peace and lack-of-neighbors of rural life, not to mention the perks of owning a stretch of land upon which we could build our own ideal dwelling... but more on that some other time.

Right now we're satisfied with apartment life (especially the part where it's someone else's responsibility to make repairs) but who knows what the future holds...