The cheery voice of the radio presenter announced that 'it's 6:30 and it's broad daylight' in London maybe, not yet on Glasgow.  As I drew back the curtains it was getting light but the orange glow of streetlights below indicated that broad daylight it certainly was not.

My kitchen is an incredibly light and airy room, south-ish facing and commanding an impressive view across the river (which you can't see) to higher ground beyond.  Looking out I can see chimney tops and trees, trains and twinkling lights (at night) and a vast, open sky over-arching it all.  As I watched the colours change from purplish-grey through gold to pale blue, daylight came to the city; the streetlights went out, a train swished past, someone cycled along the street below and morning came.

The living room faces north-ish and if you look in the correct direction you can still see snow capping the fells north of the city, just, it seems, beyond the stark tower of the local hospital.  City planes (trees!) aplenty and a whole diversity of chimney stacks potentially give a Mary-Poppins-esque feel to the vista.

For six year I overlooked a field, a recreation ground and then open countryside (actually it was trees masking the cemetery before the open countryside), a view of which I never tired, though by the time I moved the view had been lost to the new houses rising from the ashes of the old chapel.  It was no less and no more lovely than my city-scape, a view which I enjoy studying each morning as I rise.  It may surprise some people that I find it quieter here than in my former home - the steady swish of traffic fades more readily into background than the heavy rumble and wall-shaking vibrations of lorries short-cutting through a side street in the wee small hours!  And I can't honestly say I miss being woken by yowling animals afflicted by spring fever!

The country has its beauty and so does the city.  It isn't about 'better' or 'worse' but about difference.  God may not have 'created' cities but allowed us so to do.  The sunrise over the rooftops is not like that over the sea or hills, but its every bit as lovely, and it makes me glad!