It's all in the circles

When I look at the photo below, it reminds me of a time when my wife and I left an idyllic seaside vacation north of Boston, bound for the city to sign her up for a graduate class of vital importance.

To our chagrin, an administrative snafu prevented her enrollment. The professor of her fallback course, however, put her in touch with a prestigious college, where she has since carried out her life's work.

We learned that without hindsight, we just don't know if events are "good" or "bad."

Similarly, the elements of this image might elicit annoyance: ticking parking meters, a double-parked truck slowing traffic, a graffiti-clad mailbox.

But I think that the congruent circles - a wheel and a logo - soften this hard-edged Boston scene, rendering it whimsical.