Okay, I didn’t have hot chocolate. Instead I went right back to MICA at 7pm to have dinner with a friend. On the way, I had intended to pick up some food at Lexington Market, but it had already closed an hour earlier, so I had to get Kentucky Fried Chicken instead (Original Recipe with mean greens).

The Market area sure is a scary place to be after dark. The streets — even Howard Street, the main thoroughfare — were almost completely deserted, barely a soul to be seen beneath the amber streetlights; none save a few derelicts roaming the area, and the homeys hanging at the subway. Occasionally, a light crash would signal another store closing up, the metal gratings crashing to the pavement so that Asian storeowners could lock and secure the gates.

It was almost surreal, to be in that ghost town environment at just 7pm in the evening. The arrival of the light rail was a welcome escape.

Ah, Bawlmer.