I dislike the *colour* of those street lights we have now... Bathed in that orangey glow, everyone looks either sick, or menacing, or both -- even your nearest neighbours. The gas lights we used to have in Warsaw when I was little (and which had been kept on one street) were much nicer.
But. The street lights that operate on our street (small town, *and* suburban area at that), are spaced "just so" -- from one pool of light to the next, you only have to walk about 2-3yards, and it's not *total* darkness. Which is nice, when you're walking the dog after midnight (I'm a night owl) At one point, the city decided to save money and "cycle" the lights -- some go out as others go on. All very well, but there seems to be no rhyme or reason as to which ones go on and which ones go off... Try negotiating a short "spur" street (perpendicular to two, somewhat "major-ish" ones), with no lights on the "spur", but one at each corner of it, where it rejoins the "major-ish" ones. And both go off at the same time :)
Forget star-gazing; it's too humid here, most of the time, to see any stars, even in total blackout (in dry weather, you can see them fine, but that doesn't happen often). The "spur" is narrow enough, and the area old enough for the trees to have formed a canopy overhead. With the dogs in each of the household barking fit to bust, it can get pretty spooky; that last walk of the day is one of the things I do *not* miss about not having a dog any more :)
Don't know about the lights in other towns, but ours *do* have a little overhead "roof"; not very big (the light spreads out to the sides as well as down), and certainly there's nothing reflective in them to concentrate the light, but they're there -- I just checked :)
On Thursday, Aug 21, 2003, at 14:07 US/Eastern, Allison E. Moss-Fritch wrote:
In my mind's eye, I envision some wise person turning out ALL the lights at about 11pm..and keeping them all out. Then how would the burglars see? Wouldn't their torches shining in the enveloping black of the business they've entered be more noticeable in the inky black; thus making their nefarious dealings all the more obvious?
Only if someone was looking :) How many people did, during the WWII blackouts? And it's very easy to rig up a partial "hood" for your torch/flashlight/lantern, to concentrate the light where you want it.
how many of us have ever seen a totally dark horizon? Perhaps at sea, but not many of us have really been "in the dark" even once in our lives.
Doesn't have to be the sea; until about 15 yrs ago, any Polish village would have fit the requirement <g> The number of times I went to the outhouse in the middle of the night and met a spider-web face-to-face... The number of times I walked -- step by cautious, stumbling step, following the ruts in the road -- from one cousin's house to the other, because I forgot the flashlight, and forgot the phases of the moon... A short block in daytime, it took about 15 minutes at night.
I like darkness -- sometimes. But I also think that the fear of darkness is inherent in all human beings; there isn't a culture that doesn't have a fairy tale/myth/legend about the "first light/fire", and it's not just for the cooking purposes... Lots of light might not *be* safer, but it *feels* like it is. Of all things, I dread going blind, and living in permanent darkness *almost* the most (after going ga-ga)...
----- Tamara P Duvall mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] Lexington, Virginia, USA Formerly of Warsaw, Poland
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