After a delightfully long and lazy Sunday lunch we decided to walk the dog just as night was falling. By the time we got to Berthem it was, theoretically, pitch black (no moon) and yet we were able to walk for an hour-and-a-half in the dark without any trouble at all, as though a full moon were shining behind us. The reason? Low cloud cover and the reflected city lights of Leuven and Brussels. If this reflected light enabled us to walk around without any difficulty I wonder what sort of effect it has on animal life – both those that normally are inactive at night and those that are specialised in hunting in the absence of light.
This is precisely why it is hard to get some sleep in New York City.