This isn’t a particularly good photograph &, without context, frankly looks a bit strange.

It’s the only shot I took, though.

Context: Late-afternoon, post-hike on the CCT. Stopped by a quiet old dive for a pint.

Realised I’d never seen it it so empty & when the barkeep was, ah, otherwise occupied … I snuck upstairs.

It’s like another world up there, with stained wood paneling & ornately carved pillars.

It also happens to be pitch dark, illuminated only by this skylight — an incongruous & completely separate entity from the repository of grotty tchotchkes downstairs.

‘You’re not supposed to be up here,’ somebody whispered from the shadows.

‘Just one shot,’ I replied, smiling into the darkness.

I’m so glad I took it. Even if it’s a lousy one.

Tags: 1shot | DC-centric | Dives | Wm. Shakespeare