Take me out and shoot me. But anyway, there is a phrase I keep coming back to (which is to say, plagiarising) from The Riddle of the Sands. It doesn't have to do with the book's actual subject, being instead one of many evocative but glancing descriptions of the maritime setting: 'stars above and stars below'. I don't know, something just does it for me. It refers to the night sky reflected in a still sea, but I often think of it when looking at city lights.
So, something arisen from the insane and unhealthy hours I am keeping for some reason, combined with a wanton and uncontollable habit of cycle-trips.
Observatory
Blackford Hill:
A little after midnight, a little south of the midnight sun,
It's night above my head and dawn on the horizon.
The observatory's idle, the sky empty but for bird-song;
But a starry night rolls out below my feet
With myths picked out in white and yellow lights,
With a milky ribbon of its own,
And distant galaxies beyond.
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