Tonight I went looking for a dry cleaner. I didn’t find one, but sometimes when you think you’re looking for one thing, you find other things that are infinitely more interesting. Tonight was like that.

I headed in a different direction than I would normally go. It started poorly – I experienced London road work up close and in person – but I soon discovered that even here, in the densest areas of this huge city, a little bit of wild still remains. As I walked down a darkened side street to escape from the road work, I noticed a small park to my right. And there, from the bushes that designated the park’s boundaries came a fox. He was very cautious, and when he first noticed me he headed back for the safety of the park. I continued down the street a ways, and waited in the shadows. Sure enough, a few minutes later the fox came back out of the park, crossed the street and continued on with his nightly foraging. It’s amazing how life continues to evolve and adapt.

Later that evening, as my wandering brought me back home, I stopped at a bench on the Thames Walk on the South Bank. It was a beautiful, clear night, illuminated by an almost-full moon, the lights of the London Eye overhead, and the Houses of Parliament across the water. As I sat back and enjoyed the evening, I was enthralled by the sounds of the city: the rumble of the Underground trains as they crossed the bridge; the muffled roar of planes as they approached the various airports; the murmur of people as they passed on the South Bank and the ever-present background noise of the city’s traffic.

As I sat there, taking it all in, it was with a sense of contentment that I headed back to my flat, calling it a day. I never did find that dry cleaner.