It’ll be a green day, I told myself as I set out on a walk to Alfama, the oldest neighbourhood in Lisbon. 

 William Burroughs apparently called this a “colour walk”.  But I do it a little differently from what he recommended because I use a camera. 

Here’s how I go about it. 

After I step outside, I choose a colour, like Burroughs said.  While walking, I look out for, and  try to capture only that colour. Suddenly,  details I wouldn’t ordinarily see are entrenched in my memory. Stories form. 

Paint dribbles on the street.
Beautiful door knockers resting on doors, waiting for a visitor.
A neon sign announcing food.
And electric scooters ready for their next adventure.
Shy leaves tucked away in mossy cracks in walls, hiding. Other leaves bold and bright against a sienna wall. 

My green ‘colour-walk’ spills over into the next day. There’s so much to see.

Green daze or green days?

Here’s the strange thing, though.  Perhaps it’s my imagination; maybe it’s real – either way it doesn’t matter (not to me anyway!).  When I take a ‘colour-walk’, I see that place differently.  I have no way of knowing if this is true but it feels like that experience  is saved in a different part of my brain.  Compared to regular walks, these feel different when I recall them.  They’re crisper, more nuanced and somehow in these memories, impatient or pushy people and  honking cars in traffic don’t exist.

Try it!