I walk. Not because I\u2019m in a hurry \u2014 that\u2019s rarely a factor here. After ten metres it happens: sidewalks in Spain remind me that walking is not a given. A terrace chair on the left. A scooter on the right. In between: me, a shopping bag, and a decision with no proper name. I choose the least ridiculous option: the chair. The chair doesn\u2019t move. The scooter doesn\u2019t bend. My route does. <\/p>\n
What\u2019s remarkable about Spanish sidewalks isn\u2019t that they create chaos, but that they work. Here, a sidewalk is a conversation, not a passageway. A stroller has priority \u2014 unless an elderly woman is talking to it. Then the conversation takes precedence. The stroller waits. So does time. <\/p>\n
Once I saw an electric scooter placed inside a plant pot. Not fallen \u2014 parked. With intention. One centimetre to the right would have bothered no one. But apparently, that was where it belonged. Outdoor logic here is more human than practical. <\/p>\n
I\u2019m not complaining. Sidewalks in Spain aren\u2019t designed to be efficient, but to be lived on. Sometimes I stand sighing behind a line that isn\u2019t really a line. Sometimes I think: this could\u2019ve been faster. But who says faster is better? <\/p>\n
At intersections, you only see each other at the last moment. Sometimes shadows collide before people do. And yet hardly anyone actually bumps into anyone. There seems to be an invisible choreography: someone stops, someone gestures, someone smiles, someone moves on. Only later do you realize you were part of something without a name. <\/p>\n
In the Netherlands, I was good with rules. Here, I\u2019m good at being present. Not because I\u2019m better at it, but because otherwise it doesn\u2019t work. You don\u2019t win an argument with a terrace chair. You can only decide whether to walk around it or resent it. The chair stays. <\/p>\n
A friend from M\u00e1laga once said: \u201cThe sidewalk belongs to no one \u2014 so everyone is responsible.\u201d Not as a principle, but as a practice. <\/p>\n
Walking here isn\u2019t A \u2192 B. It\u2019s A \u2192 step aside for D \u2192 smile at E \u2192 wait, where was B again? That\u2019s not a lack of structure \u2014 it\u2019s an excess of people. <\/p>\n
Maybe this isn\u2019t about chairs, scooters or step devices at all. Maybe it\u2019s about how much space you have inside yourself to not be right. To accept that a sidewalk doesn\u2019t understand you. To stop expecting logic to be universal. <\/p>\n
The sidewalk is too narrow for a single truth. And maybe that\u2019s exactly enough. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
I walk. Not because I\u2019m in a hurry \u2014 that\u2019s rarely a factor here. After ten metres it happens: sidewalks in Spain remind me that walking is not a given. A terrace chair on the left. A scooter on the right. In between: me, a shopping bag, and a decision ...<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":14,"featured_media":14439,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"inline_featured_image":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[2678],"tags":[2713,2679,2712,2681,385,683,702],"class_list":["post-14440","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-en-ruta","tag-en-ruta","tag-mobility","tag-observation","tag-pavements","tag-spain","tag-traffic","tag-walking-en"],"yoast_head":"\n