When you think about summer and recreation and enjoying yourself outside in the sun, I’m betting the first thing you think of is not … sidewalks.
Yes, you heard me. I said sidewalks. By definition – at least according to Wikipedia – a sidewalk “is a path along the side of a road. A sidewalk may accommodate moderate changes in height and is normally separated from the vehicular section by a curb.”
There is, however, no definition to the purpose of a sidewalk. I’ll give one, just for the sake of conversation – a sidewalk is a path to the side meant for walking.
So, after listening to people complain on and off this spring about the need for sidewalks in a portion of Burlington (and I’m sure if you don’t live here, you can find a need for sidewalks somewhere in your hometown), I started paying a little extra attention to sidewalks.
In Burlington, for example, it is against city ordinances to ride your bicycle or skateboard on city sidewalks. Of course, you wouldn’t know that by the number of kids who ride their bikes – either with the flow of traffic or against it – down city sidewalks.
When I was a kid, I rode my bike on the sidewalk. It was a safety thing, though it turned out not to be very safe one day when I rode up onto a sidewalk through the handicap access point, and promptly skidded out on sand and over my handlebars.
Side note: when bracing one’s self with one’s hands to keep one’s face from impacting with pavement, one should not expect the wrists to bear the extra force well. It was the first of two bad wrist sprains I’ve had in my life, and trust me, I could have done without either one. Of course, since I wasn’t wearing a helmet at the time – this was the 1980s, children, so yes, I’m dating myself – I suppose a wrist sprain could’ve been the least of my troubles.
Whatever. My wrists still accurately reflect the heat and humidity during the summer.
Of course, exactly what are you to do with your bicycles? If you’re a young kid and in downtown Burlington – or really, any downtown area with traffic – you don’t want to be riding your bikes in the street. Then again, if you’re trying to take a pleasant evening walk, and you’re almost run over by said bikers, I’m sure that’s not a whole lot of fun either.
Then, of course, there are those who ignore the fact that sidewalks exist altogether. I wonder if there is an actual ordinance in the City of Burlington – or anywhere else – that specifically forbids riding bicycles on grass. That would be for all the kids who decide that the sidewalks, really, are just a suggestion of where to be, and then cut corners, jump curbs or the like to get to their own home.
There probably is an ordinance, but I suspect, judging by the amount of offenders out there, it is rarely if ever enforced. Of course, those on bicycles aren’t the only ones ignoring the sidewalks. Why some of the women I’ve seen walking have decided to walk on the grass instead of the sidewalks, I really don’t know. But they do.
Please understand, most of this is tongue in cheek and meant as a pleasant ramble against some of the odder parts of this place I call home. I’m pretty sure I could go most anyplace and find similar stories to tell – if not the exact same ones.
And I do love Burlington – and Waterford and Union Grove. Small-town America should never be lost, and part of that is finding sidewalks being used for everything from walking to eating to drawing to selling lemonade.
Maybe sidewalks truly don’t need a definition. Or maybe, we all just try too hard to give it one.
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