The other day I was walking home the same way I always walk, but I was walking on the side of the street I don’t usually walk (to stay a tad cooler in the shade). This was a mistake.
I came to a corner where the sidewalk abruptly ends.
According to Google Maps, it explodes suddenly into a bright light,
but in reality it’s even more frightening. There are no crosswalks; there is no sidewalk to continue on; you are standing besides a freeway on-ramp at a complicated intersection during high volume traffic time. Your options: walk the seven minutes [gasp] back to the last intersection that you vaguely remember had crosswalks (though you had assumed this one did until this moment, so you’re not feeling too confident about crosswalk placement in this city) or die by being crushed by on automobile whose driver is paying attention to the freeway, not to you (since apparently no pedestrians are expected on that side of the street).
I opted to risk my life, stood through two light rotations trying to figure out the optimal time and direction to run across, couldn’t figure it out but finally ran anyway, and got honked at but lived. Thank you, Los Angeles, I love you.
i love you.