The colors we find in the most unexpected places

Watch where you step
London, ON
August 2019
This photo originally shared on Instagram

So I'm wandering through a back alley off of London's beleaguered Dundas Street, carefully dodging used needles and discarded condoms littering the filthy, crumbling asphalt below, when I come across a colorful patch of graffiti. Wait, who am I kidding? The entire wall is covered with it.

This is downtown London, all gritty and sad and dangerous. Why I come here I don't really know. One wrong step and I'm risking hepatitis. Or worse. One wrong step and I might meet the wrong person in the wrong place. There's nothing remotely safe or smart about being here, yet here I am.

Call it curiosity. Call it a need to understand why this part of the city is so challenged. Why it's been as bad as it's been for so long. Why it seems to be getting worse by the day. Tent cities popping up by the river, in parks, and in the shadows of gleaming glass buildings. Individuals suffering from addiction and mental health issues roaming the streets. Long-term businesses finally giving up and pulling out of the core for good. The decline is palpable.

There are never any easy answers when it comes to structural, fundamental problems like this, and I don't expect to find any on this particular walk. For now, a sliver of light, a shot of unexpected color, and even a buried image in a place that usually has no such inspiration will have to do.

Maybe tomorrow the view and the reality will be different. Nah. Who am I kidding?

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