Sometimes this seems like the worst sort
of
reality to me; that so many places would
be so much the same. Cities should have
character, they should have
features
, they should be different.
Most often,
though, I find this reassuring. It is nice to
have a constant.
There will be the quiet
residential streets, the dog barking somewhere,
a streetlight buzzing and failing. There will be
strip malls and McDonald's, there will be a
gas station, there will be a movie theater, there
will be a 24 hour supermarket.
These things
will be there.
When you are lonely, you want
something for reference, you need a frame
of reference. Unchanging cities form such a frame.
And home? A home can be made anywhere. Home is
a person, not a place. Any city will do, it will
have the basics, a few extra features here and
there, whatever. The people will color
the city, and that's where the differences lie.