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Where we listen, we relax and we get sleepy.
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There's something special about the quiet magic of the time of deep winter that comes after the busy holiday period.
Tonight, we'll take an excursion into the heart of the coldest season and enjoy its uniquely enchanting qualities.
Thank you to Alicia Stefan for writing this one, which I'll be reading for you.
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Now, before we begin, Let's settle down and ease into the peace and comfort of the night.
We've had a really cold snap here in the UK this week and even some fairly considerable snowfall in the area I call home, which we don't get too often around these parts.
But that's made for some beautiful scenery, some cosy nights in and all the more pleasure and enjoyment of getting into bed and wrapping up warm under the covers, safely cocooned from the frosty outside world.
That may sound rather unfamiliar to our listeners on the other side of the globe right now.
Perhaps you might enjoy the imagery of tonight's story, in the hope that it'll make you feel cooler.
But wherever you are, and no matter the temperature outside, take a moment to ensure you're as comfortable as can be.
And if you're yet to do so, close your eyes. and invite your mind's eye to help you unwind.
Imagine that your cares are snowflakes that softly fall down, down, down.
And then they are absorbed by a soft blanket of snow on the ground and you don't have to do anything about them.
Take a deep breath.
Hold it for a few seconds.
Then, gently exhale.
Inhale again, deeply and fully. and let go.
As you sink into your comfortable bed, imagine the stress dripping away.
As the many snowflakes of your day drift by, you become more and more separate from them.
You are quiet and relaxed.
Now it's time to join Evan, who is doing his best to maintain some focus as he studies in his bedroom at home.
This is where our story begins.
Evan set down the heavy book he was reading for his English class, rubbing his tired eyes under his glasses.
He was sitting on his bed, leaning against the wall, and there were notebooks strewn all around him.
He was, to be honest, bored to tears by his novel.
Idly, he flipped the pages as if fanning through the rest of the book would make it disappear.
Then, he set it down on his lap and stared glumly out of the window.
It was one of those cheerless winter afternoons when the sky was grey and the landscape It was winter, but there was no snow.
As he stared outside at the quiet street, he noticed that dusk was falling.
He turned to his right and twisted the knob on the lamp that was clamped to his bed frame.
Like a friendly offering.
It cast a pool of warm golden light on his lap and the book that sat there.
Seeking a distraction, he reached over and picked up a snow globe that sat next to the lamp, acting as a paperweight for a stack of things he had allowed to accumulate on his desk.
As he did, two pieces of neglected mail fell to the floor.
He stared at them without really caring.
Tiresome envelopes, he thought to himself.
Leaning back against the bed, he scrutinized the snow globe.
He'd had it for as long as he could remember.
It had been passed down to him by his uncle, who said he'd bought it as a souvenir on a trip way back in the 1980s.
Inside the globe, there was a cityscape.
The base of the globe itself was in the shape of an old-fashioned yellow taxi cab with black and white checkers on the side.
For so long the snow globe had been sitting alternately on his desk and his bookshelf that he had sort of stopped seeing it.
But this evening, desperate to delay a return to his tedious novel, he observed the buildings inside the spherical world.
It was a collection of skyscrapers huddled together, They had different heights and shapes to them.
Some were the color of sandstone, and others were gray.
Around the bottom they were encircled by water, as if they were clustered on a very small island in the middle of a river.
A white riverboat of the type that would do dinner excursions or tours, floated on the water close to the shore.
Impulsively, Evan shook the globe.
Instantly, the city was in the midst of a blizzard.
The tiny flakes circled madly at first and then settled into a gentle pattern, descending to the bottom of the orb.
He waited until the white clouds stopped flying, and then gave the globe another shake, mesmerized by the repeat performance of the miniature storm.
Evans smiled to himself and realized how drowsy he was.
Feeling a small thrill of rebellion, he shoved the novel and the notebooks to the front of the bed and lay down on his side with the warm light of the lamp at his back.
He gazed out idly into the deepening gloom of the winter evening.
He shook the globe again, and his eyes glazed over a bit as he watched the flurries begin and end.
Begin and end.
Without realizing it, Evan must have dozed off.
He must have.
Because his senses were awakened by a small tingle on his cheek.
Then his nose.
Then there was another.
And another.
He opened his eyes. rising from his shallow sleep into a dream world.
It had to be a dream, because Evan was not in his bed.
He was sitting on a wooden bench.
The first thing he noticed after the bench was that there were big, fluffy snowflakes drifting down all around him.
It was dark, but the sidewalk was lit by tall streetlights that cast frosty halos at regular intervals.
Behind him lay a city park.
Tall trees stretched their limbs to meet each other over winding paved walkways.
Peering down those paths, he saw benches placed here and there.
And through the trees he thought he might have also glimpsed a fountain, silent in the winter night.
Next, Evan became aware of the sounds around him.
Car horns beat lightly now and again.
A swishing noise traveled by him every few seconds.
He realized that cars were driving past.
He stood up from the bench and looked down at himself.
He was wearing the same clothes he'd had on in his room, but despite not having a coat, he wasn't cold.
He was oddly impervious to the winter weather.
Taking a few steps across the sidewalk, he looked up and down the street.
On either side of the park, buildings were clustered close together.
Some of them had shops on the first level, while others had steps leading to residential buildings.
And the streets themselves felt as deep and endless as canyons, stretching in what seemed like infinite lines that disappeared into the darkness.
And the buildings.
Some of them were only a few floors high, But others soared so high into the night sky that he felt like Jack staring up at a beanstalk.
Brownstone apartment buildings stood side by side with impossibly lofty skyscrapers.
They must have kissed the clouds hidden behind the inky darkness of the night.
The city was also not lacking in color.
Spectacular neon signs dotted the horizon, peppering the blackness of the heavens with urban glitter.
Parking, the signs proclaimed.
Hotel, bowling, theater.
Fascinated, Evan turned and began walking slowly towards the boundary of the park.
He wanted to peer into the windows of the buildings. and see what was there.
As he moved, he looked at the cars that went by.
There was something odd about them that he couldn't quite place.
They were boxy, long, their colours were muted.
The Bright red and white cars he was used to seeing were replaced with rust, green, maroon and grey.
His brain worked to put words to it.
They felt vintage.
After watching a few of them go by, he realized that he was looking at the cars of the early 1980s.
Now, he was very keen to see more.
He picked up his pace, invigorated by the snow and the inviting city and brisk night air.
As he walked, magically, he began to notice other people around him.
Before that moment, he'd been a solitary figure on the sidewalk.
But now, he was surrounded by all sorts of other pedestrians. bundled up in a boxy tweed overcoat.
A woman in a puffy down-filled jacket strolled by with an excited child hanging on her arm.
The little one wore a navy blue ski jacket with a rainbow stripe across the chest.
After them, He passed a woman wearing winter boots and a long khaki-colored woolen coat.
She was carrying several unwielding shopping bags and slowed down to pull up her sleeve and look at her wristwatch.
Then she picked up her pace and vanished from the lamplight.
The mother and the little girl in the ski jacket stopped up ahead, at a street cart on the sidewalk.
A heavenly smell of roasting nuts was emanating from it, and Evan could now see why.
Suddenly, his stomach grumbled. and he realized he hadn't eaten anything since lunch.
He moved a bit closer as the pair walked away.
A man stood inside the cart, wearing an apron over his coat.
His head was adorned with a hat featuring ear flaps.
To Evan's surprise, the man beckoned him and held out a cone of warm, glazed nuts.
Evan clapped his hand on his trouser pocket, realizing he didn't have any money.
But, oddly, the man didn't seem to expect any.
He cheerfully handed over the cone and then returned to his work, indicating that their business was complete.
This was some sort of wintery magic, Evan marveled to himself as he savored a few bites of his treat.
With the cone warming his hands, He wandered over to a shop window.
It was a toy store, and the display was spilling over with delights.
There was a complicated wooden puzzle, a track for matchbox cars and a mechanized teddy bear that appeared to perform simple actions.
Evans' attention was especially attracted to a Rubik's Cube on prominent display, as if it were some type of amazing new innovation.
He also recognized some of the older Star Wars figures which were at odds with the rainbow-colored ponies sporting silky pastel hair.
He felt like he was looking at a Christmas catalogue from 40 years ago.
Chuckling to himself, he strolled on a little further down the street.
He passed a bookstore next.
The lights were low inside. and he could see a few patrons browsing the stacks.
One was in deep conversation with a bespectacled man behind the counter.
The window display featured a collection of hardbacks.
He didn't recognize all the authors, but he easily spotted seemingly recent books by Shel Silverstein, Alice Walker, Stephen King and Salman Rushdie.
He thought fondly of his battered copy of Silverstein's A Light in the Attic that was buried in his old room at home.
How funny to see a glossy new copy.
Evan turned from the window and popped the last delicious warm bite into his mouth.
Instantly, the empty container in his hand vanished into thin air, as if it had never been there.
He stood for a moment, staring at his empty fingers. and felt a bubble of amusement.
Looking around him, it made sense.
This was the cleanest city street he'd ever seen.
There wasn't a single bit of litter to be found anywhere.
He heard a clattering noise behind him and turned to see a man walking out of an actual, real-life phone booth.
The fellow bustled away, apparently on a mission.
Meanwhile, the door of the phone booth stood slightly open.
A heavy yellow phone book swung back and forth, dangling from the metal counter by a chain to prevent removal.
Evan approached the phone booth with a smile of disbelief.
Then, he stepped inside and closed the little folding door.
Instantly, the noise of the street became more distant.
He could hear his own gentle breath inside the booth.
Around the booth.
Large, jolly snowflakes drifted down down down, gently settling on the sidewalk and sticking here and there on the glass.
He laughed softly to himself, thinking how it was like he was in his own globe now and the snow was outside instead.
Experimentally, he lifted the receiver and poked at the silver buttons of the payphone with their black engraved numbers.
It was all so clumsy and tactile, but weird and wonderful too.
Looking down at the phonebook, he noticed many of its white and yellow pages had been torn out.
He smiled wryly, thinking that you could keep the book itself in there, but the pages were still impossible to safeguard.
But there was so much more to see outside of the booth.
So Evan opened the door and breathed almost ecstatically as the fresh, crisp air rushed inside.
Standing on the pavement.
Once again, he filled his lungs a second time, sensing the clean goodness of the winter air and reveling in it.
A small elderly lady walked by briskly with a little schnauzer.
The dog was wearing a plaid jacket and clearly having a marvellous outing.
The woman sang to herself brightly, apparently unconcerned that anyone might hear.
It somehow lifted Evan's spirits even further.
He walked on a little more.
He passed a couple of restaurants, peeking in the windows to see cozy dining rooms inside.
He watched people buying hot dogs from a vendor who seemed to know them by name.
Once or twice, buses slowly drove by.
Evan was particularly fascinated by the ads on the sides of them.
There were a lot of beauty and hair products advertised, featuring women with piles of glossy curls.
There were ads featuring TV personalities he recognized from many, many years ago, when their shows were in reruns.
Film for cameras was also a big deal, apparently.
What a concept.
He thought that you would take pictures and not even know what they looked like, until someone developed them for you.
Judging by these ads, people were also a lot less picky about their coffee.
Instant coffee brands appeared to be quite acceptable, and they only had to argue which one was better than the other.
Evan also passed an entire store window, jammed full of miscellaneous electronics.
There were numerous styles of portable Walkman devices that were proudly displayed, complete with the type of headphones that had foam-covered discs for the ears.
Combining clocks with radios also appeared to be a popular idea.
He stood for a good amount of time looking at a placard advertising cassette tapes, each supposedly providing the best sound.
Evan turned from the ad and began walking again.
As he did, he encountered the coziest little cafe he'd ever seen.
It was on the ground floor of what otherwise looked like a residential brick building.
Inside its bay window which jutted out to the street, there was a table for two, but it was empty.
Looking beyond that, he could see a few other customers inside and a smiling woman behind the counter placing a cake in the glass display cabinet by the cash register.
On a whim, Evan opened the door and went inside the café.
A small bell at the top of the door jangled, creating a musical welcome for him.
The air inside enveloped him in warmth as he strolled over to the counter.
The woman there grinned as if she knew him.
Then she put up a finger as if to halt any words he might utter.
As he stood there, she quickly made an enormous cup of hot chocolate and topped it off with a generous dollop of whipped cream.
Next, she picked up a small shaker, spreading little chocolate sprinkles across the top.
When the cup was finished, she carefully placed it on a saucer and pushed it across the counter to Evan.
Just like the street vendor, she didn't seem to accept any payment.
Evan was beginning to get the hang of this town.
With great anticipation, he took the cup, dipping his head in a nod of thanks.
Then he carried his drink over to the very best spot in the cafe, the empty table right by the window, where he settled himself comfortably.
He took a tentative sip of the hot chocolate, which was at the perfect temperature.
It was so rich and creamy.
He closed his eyes to savour the moment.
When he opened his eyes again, He began peeking around the room at the other patrons.
Against one wall, two women sat laughing quietly, with their heads inclined towards each other.
They were clearly sharing a funny secret.
In the corner, a gentleman was relaxing with a newspaper.
Evan realized at that moment how long it had been since he'd seen someone reading an actual print newspaper.
As he watched, the man dropped the paper away from his face slightly, gave it a shake to loosen the crease and then turned it over to the next page.
In the middle of the room, there was a young woman about Evan's age.
She was reading a book.
Looking at it, he realized with amazement that it was the exact same book he'd been working on at home a little while ago.
But this woman seemed really absorbed by the novel, eagerly turning to the next page before picking up her steaming cup and taking a small sip.
She was so lost in her reading that Heaven thought to himself he should really give that novel another try.
Later, perhaps, or tomorrow.
He stirred the hot chocolate completely, dissolving the whipped cream into the remaining liquid in the cup.
Then, he sipped again, enjoying its rich taste as he turned his attention to the world outside.
Once again, he was in a glass glue. with the snow on the exterior.
But this time, it was the bay window.
Outside, the snow continued to fall thickly, coating the hats, jackets and scarves of everyone who wandered past.
Evan relished the sense of warmth and security that he had at this table.
Some of the nighttime pedestrians looked down at the sidewalk, leaning into the weather.
They were in a hurry to get somewhere, but others sauntered more slowly, enjoying the shop windows and the people watching.
In pairs or in threes, they talked and laughed, gesturing broadly.
Evan realized that he couldn't think of a time when he'd watched an entire street full of people passing the time without a single smartphone to hold their gaze.
Once he made that observation, he couldn't stop thinking about it.
All these people out there, Just thinking mundane thoughts or interacting with other people.
Nothing to entertain them but themselves.
How amazing.
Evan realized he'd been lost in his own thoughts and had already finished his cocoa.
But looking down at the table, he saw the cup had vanished.
The cafe had magically removed it for him, and he sensed that he was free to go.
At the same time, he knew that he was also free to return whenever he liked.
That was a lovely thought.
Still, he wanted to see just one or two more things before this amazing night ended.
He wondered, if he plunged into a side street, whether he might find a river flowing around this place.
Evan wasn't sure why he would expect that, but he did.
So he stood and quietly pushed his chair under the table, leaving the enchanting little spot for the next lucky visitor to the café.
He pulled the front door open and let its tiny bell wish him farewell.
As he waited at a crosswalk for the light to change, he saw something that caught his attention.
An old-fashioned yellow cab came cruising by with white and black checkers along its side.
It pulled over and a couple dressed in formal clothing hurried to get inside.
The man gallantly opened the door as his laughing companion lifted up her glittering sequined dress a few inches and slid somewhat awkwardly into the back seat.
The man dropped into the cab beside her and shut the door.
With them both safely inside, the cab slowly drove away.
It was soon obscured by a fresh curtain of falling snow.
When it was his turn to cross, Evan proceeded to the other side and then onward into the adjacent street.
Up ahead, there was an empty vastness between the tall buildings that hinted at a change in the landscape.
He walked for a little while gazing up at brownstones to his right and left, brick townhouses, tall apartment buildings and glittering skyscrapers.
There almost seemed to be no rhyme or reason how they were placed, as if he drifted through the idea of a city instead of the city itself.
But eventually he reached a place where there were no more buildings, just a sidewalk and a railing up.
Ahead and beyond the railing, a river.
Evan stood and breathed deeply as a fresh gust of wind met him, blowing off the water.
His hair ruffled in the breeze as he looked upstream.
There was a glorious, graceful bridge there.
Each of its supports was lit with what seemed like hundreds of shining white lights.
Along its roadway, a steamy stream of cars made their way in each direction, gliding silently through the blustery night and under the bridge, a riverboat appeared.
It too was draped with arcs of light, and each little window was bright.
As the boat came closer, Evan could discern moving figures inside the windows.
There was also music drifting in his direction.
He wasn't entirely sure what it was, but it reminded him of disco.
Sure enough, when the boat was close, he could see that people inside were dancing.
They were swinging in, pairs parting and meeting again, and pausing to laugh or take a sip from a champagne glass.
Out on the decks of the ship, people stood huddled in coats, holding glasses of their own, and when they passed by they waved at him.
Evan eagerly waved back.
Enchanted, he watched the happy passengers until their vessel was little more than a dot in the dark purple night.
Then, as he took in a last view of the river, With the wintry cityscape at his back, Evan yawned.
He was tired, he realized.
Without having to give it much thought, he turned and retraced his steps back to the avenue where he'd started.
He passed the apartment buildings, the townhouses and the little shops.
And when he reached the avenue once more, he again noted the payphone, the street vendors and the cafes.
Each of them continued on with their business as if the night had no ending.
And this beautiful snowstorm did not waver or abate.
But he was not meant to be part of it forever.
He was somehow aware of that.
Up ahead of him, the park bench loomed with its comforting pool of light.
As if finishing a book, he strolled over and dropped onto it, feeling as if evening was complete.
And as he gazed about taking in the frozen silent fountain and the passing cars, Evan realized the other people on the street had quietly vanished.
Then, slowly, the scene became a little less real, a little more unfocused.
The traffic faded just a bit into the background. until it too disappeared.
At the very last moment, Evan looked up at the whirling flakes above him like sugar falling from the heavens.
He closed his eyes and sighed.
When he opened them again, Evan found that he was on his bed with his novel and notebooks all around him and the lamp still warming his bedside.
The night outside was completely dark.
He felt pleasantly fuzzy And somehow, just happy.
What a lovely dream he'd had.
Propping himself up on his elbow, he picked up the abandoned novel and looked at it skeptically.
He decided that he would give it an honest try again tomorrow.
After all, the girl in the cafe had clearly been enjoying it.
Placing the novel on his bedside, he picked up the snow globe and gave it a shake.
Then Putting the glass orb very close to his face, he observed the small boat on the river.
And you could say he was still groggy, or that he was seeing things.
But he was nearly certain that for just a moment, it twinkled all over. with glittering light.
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Thank you.
Thank you.
Thanks for watching! you Thank you.
Thanks for watching!
Thanks for watching!
