One of the few things I don’t exactly like about Antwerp so far is the constant raining all the fuckin time. Wet shoes are the last things I ever wanted. At half past six, the rain was having its usual late afternoon drench, killing the vibe, dark and dreary. In theory, the night was still young, but the encroaching darkness and the saddening downpour suggests otherwise. I should have left the lab an hour ago but the rain had other plans stubbornly holding me captive, resisting any escape into the night.
I made the bold decision to leave anyway. The air was saturated with shivering cold: walked the drenched streets, cocooned in my winter jacket, hands buried deep in my pockets, headphones plugged in my ears. The streets adorned with yellow and brown leaves, kissed by raindrops, bore witness to the waning autumn days. Such a beautiful sight I would say, except for the rain starting to inevitably soak up my shoes. As the rain played its melodic percussion on the streets back-dropped with dazzling lights from occasional cars passing, I could hear the faint noise of my own footsteps interspersed with the timely drowning opm tune from Lola Amour. Fate indeed never runs out of funny ways to make us feel.
Eventually, hunger forced me to pause, finding myself ending up in a lonely Chinese restaurant in my neighborhood where I was the sole client. The place was bathed in dim, enveloped in deafening silence, but somehow saturated with a comforting smell. Normally, I detest rainy nights like these when hunger compels surrender to dingy places, however, this time was different. I actually had a surprisingly satisfying meal, actually my first proper Antwerp dining experience. So despite my usual distaste of the rain, today was an exception, forcing me to feel something good about it, bringing me to discover a new comfort place.
