Streetlights

2023-03-01

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On Monday evening I was returning home from an appointment by car. My route took me across a bridge crossing over an interstate highway, at a time when the sun had just dipped below the horizon.

The bridge was lined with streetlights activated by individual light sensors, as opposed to a central switch. As I reached the intersection just before the bridge, the the streetlights turned on--but not all at the same time. At first only one light blinked on, but after about a second, another light began to glow. Then came a third, a fourth, and a host of about two dozen in rapid (and uneven) succession. Soon all but one of the lights illuminated the roadway, and the last, seemingly hurrying to catch up with the others, winked into life a few seconds later.

The effect reminded me of a group of people deciding spontaneously to turn on a series of lights, or fireflies blinking into luminescence one by one in the summer nights. It felt like it came right out of a movie or cartoon.

I love little moments of magic like that.

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[Last updated: 2023-03-01]