My mom recently recounted to me how she visited one of her favourites cafés and, while sitting by the window, was able to listen to the music that street musicians were playing in the lively neighbourhood outside. It reminded me of my own visit a few weeks ago to another café, also tucked away in an interesting side street. On that occasion, my girlfriend and I were seated on a sofa at the very front, facing the window and the open front door leading onto the terrace as dusk set in. This is my favourite place to sit at bars and restaurants: not this particular spot at this particular cafe, but more generally a spot on the edge of the inside next to an aperture to the outside, like a bench by an open window, or a table underneath the raised garage door in a converted mechanics’ shop.

Part of why I enjoy these spots is that they you allow to experience both the inside and the outside. It often feels like a shame to sit out on the terrace and miss out on the interior, which might be beautifully decorated and arranged. Conversely, it often feels criminal not to be outside on a beautiful day. These spots are not, however, merely a compromise or state of indecision. They have a unique, positive energy in their own right. It brings to mind a conversation I heard in which a bartender was discussing a new corner bar that he was opening:

We were talking about windows. And we were just talking about how, like, American windows, they open up and down, they slide up and down. And European windows open outwards. And outwards windows just create a different energy [. . . ] When people have terraces and so or like the European style when it’s good weather, it’s that people flow seamlessly from the inside to the outside. You know what I mean? It’s like there are tables that are half inside and half outside, and there are people sitting half inside and half outside. And so you’ve got this flow, and one of the typical things is maybe like people sitting on the windowsill inside and speaking with someone outside.

Liminal spaces, the spaces at the boundary between two things, have this “flow”. They are at the confluence of different streams or states of energy, whether physical, temporal, or emotional. When listening to DJ sets, the moments I enjoy most tend to be the transitions, those points at which one track is fading out and another is being introduced. Elements of the previous track still persist – maybe a deconstructed baseline and an isolated vocal – and the new track is just coming into focus. These moments of transition feel so dynamic and full, and they mix emotions of retrospective satisfaction and anticipation. The same feelings are evoked during those liminal times of the day, dawn and dusk. You are transiting from one mode of being to another, and looking backwards and forwards at once. Sitting by the door of that cafe, we were taking a break after our picnic and walk that afternoon but also getting ready for the theatrical performance that we were going to see that evening. We were at one of those points where energy was flowing, in this case on multiple dimensions, a Drake Passage of vibes. By definition, these spots are narrow and limited, but so pleasant to linger in.