Go walk in the road
I live on a road.
Most of us do.
But my road is slightly different. It’s quiet.
Really quiet.
I’ve lived on busy roads. One was the route to a hospital; sirens, flashing lights. Noisy.
Great house though.
I’ve lived on quiet roads. I grew up on a cul-de-sac, in fact. They’re always generally quiet.
But it overlooked a busy road, so for 18 years my nights were filled with the hushhhh of tyre across tarmac.
You get used to it after nearly two decades though. More of a comforting sound now. I miss it a bit.
This is a cul-de-sac within a cul-de-sac though. Not a lot of cars drive down it unless there is a genuine reason for doing so. It’s quiet, but the peacefulness is expected.
Now, I live on a road. A proper road. One which runs for nearly half a mile between two busy avenues.
But it’s quiet. Really quiet.
I can walk on it.
I can disregard the pavement.
Of a morning on my walk to the bus stop. Of a weekend afternoon when I’m heading to the shop. Of a nighttime when I’m off to the gym. On all of those times, without fail, I can walk on the road. Right smack-bang in the middle of the road.
It’s an addiction. It’s disappointing when I have to use the path meant for humans.
I want to walk in the road.
This section of land was purpose-built for cars, not me. It’s a couple of metres from where I’d find myself normally and yet something is uniquely satisfying about the symmetry you discover there. Parked cars, trees, houses. All as equally on my right as they are on my left.
My work colleague Kai is of Japanese and French origin. He went to university in France, held a job in Gap. He had a shift on 11th September 2001.
Oblivious to the terror attacks, Kai walked to work as normal.
His route took him down the Champs-Élysées, one of Paris’s most famous roads.
It was deserted. Everyone was glued to the television in homes, shops, cafés, offices. No one was driving.
Eight lanes of traffic, non-existent.
Walking in the middle of the Champs-Élysées, 40 yards from where you’d normally walk, but seeing the world from a position not many do.
Those yards make all the difference. It’s a feeling like nothing else.
So, next time you’re walking beside an empty road, disregard the rules.
Go stand in it. Walk along it, not beside it.
See a different perspective.
