3 (driving in france)

So French people drive a little crazy. So crazy, that their trees need guard rails to keep them from being destroyed:




The trees lining the streets all have these. Which makes sense considering the French park wherever the WTF they like:



Which is okay, unless you happen to jog, at which point it can get a little dangerous, because maybe things happen like, 'oh hey, a car on the sidewalk, i'll squeeze between it and the building until someone opens the car door in my face. i guess next time i'll use the street. perhaps people won't be driving maniacally there because all the cars are already on the sidewalk.'

There are all of three joggers in Angers. I'm half of them, and the others all move like they just set a wine glass down, which their doctor told them to drink for their heart, and are now onto fulfill the second part of the advice with the same gusto. I didn't realize it was possible to drag your feet and run at the same time, nor for people to look like they are expending less energy exercising than they do merely walking around town. Honest, I saw a guy walk past a jogger yesterday.

Anyway, so there are not only guard rails around the trees on the sidewalk, but also in the parks. This is strange, because the parks are the only places cars don't go. I think this is 'cause the parks aren't people parks but dog parks. There are these large vacant lot looking places every couple blocks or so with signs to signify, each with a couple (protected) trees and not too much grass, but a lot of dusty gravel.

Q: So since these dogs have their own large private waste receptacles that are free of traffic and pretty much useless for anything else, one can assume that the sidewalks would be clear of fecal matter (if not cars), oui?

A: There is dog shit everywhere.

You know how you're walking and you see the mess a dog's intestines made on the sidewalk, and you think, 'uh oh, watch out!' and then maybe you see another one and there's a footprint in it, so you think 'Drag city! Poor guy!' and really feel for the poor gent with the dirty shoe? Not the case here. If people were not consistently walking all over the presents left by the overactive digestive systems of legions of french pooches and distributing them evenly across the pedestrian paths thus allowing the daily rain to further spread escherichia coli throughout the community, none of it would ever go anywhere. It would be impossible to leave the house without wading boots.

NOTE: I have yet to find a suitable translation for the phrase "drag city."