Sometimes I take the long way to the office. I go straight after leaving Metro instead of turning left. I walk alongside one of the largest homeless shelters in the city and past a wall of cars exiting a tunnel. There’s a building under renovation, and I have to scamper across the street to avoid the construction.

This route takes a little longer. I can’t do it on auto-pilot. But there is a bustle and an energy to it that isn’t present on my regular path.

Does the allure of this walk come from its unfamiliarity? Or is it the nature of the scenery itself — closer to the train station than the sunken highway — that’s responsible? I’m not sure. But it’s worth the extra steps to ponder the answer.