Have you hugged a bridge today?

Main span texture
London, ON
July 2019
This photo originally shared on Instagram

I'm not a "stuff" person. When the people who matter most speak about you, they won't wax poetic about the gadgets you own, the clothes you wear, or the car you drive. And if they do, then they don't really matter.

It is your impact on those around you - and those who come next - that matters most. Are you working to improve the world? Do you place the needs of others ahead of your own? Are you kind?

That said, in the built environment around us, some "stuff" - not things we own, but things we encounter - does indeed matter. I've written about and shot Blackfriars Bridge many times before*, yet I keep coming back to it because it's a perfect example of so-called stuff that improves the world around it.

This historic structure connects equally historic neighborhoods and inspires all who are lucky enough to cross it to, maybe, pause and reflect a little along the way.

It connects us to the past. It defines a city that often struggles to define itself. It invites us to lean in and drink it in, to appreciate the care, craftsmanship, and even love that first created it in 1875, and then restored it to glory in 2017 and 2018.

Indeed, this is more than a mere bridge. You can almost feel it in the color and texture. And if you hang around here long enough, you begin to appreciate just how many others share this perspective.

All that from some old, green iron. Neat.

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* Blackfriars-themed posts from 2009, 2010, 2011, 2012, and 2017