Amsterdam Bridge Dusk Glow Countdown Timer

The best thing about standing on a canal bridge at dusk in Amsterdam is that you are never the only one doing it, and nobody pretends it is unusual. A bicycle was chained to the railing right where I wanted to put my hands, so I leaned on it instead and pretended that was the plan. Across the water the housefronts had gone from brown to black and their windows had taken over, tall rectangles of amber stacked up in rows, each one a small room with a lamp and somebody's evening inside. A car went past on the far bank and dragged a red line through the whole frame. The water underneath was doing the slow thing water does when there is hardly any wind, holding the lights and wobbling them just enough to prove they are not real. I could hear a boat engine idling somewhere out of sight, and a door closing, and laughter from a window one floor up. Then the sky went from grey to blue and all the windows got brighter at once, and I finally understood why people move here. I stayed until the boats had all gone quiet.