Sidewalks

I left home very early today because I needed to be at the office for a call to the US. It was still dark outside and I've never walked to the wharf at that hour.

When I left our building - without even thinking about it- I walked right past the sidewalk and stepped out into the very middle of the road and started walking down the hill. I was soon startled by a noise behind me as another guy was following right behind my footsteps.  A bit further we had to move slightly to one side of the road to let another guy pass by us. He was coming up the hill towards us. Walking right down the middle of our quiet, tree-lined street. And a bit further a car came by and we stopped and gave it room to pass, then continued on our original course.

Why were we all walking down the middle of the street at 6:00 am in the dark?  Not even to one side of the road - right down the middle. And why didn't any of us think that was an odd thing to do? And why wasn't I worried that there was a guy shadowing me in the dark?

Afraid of muggers lurking in the bushes? Nope. I wish.

Yes, Anna and Tyler both got it right again. Spiders! They build their webs and string them across the sidewalk from the branches of the trees and bushes. Big spiders ** perched in the middle of webs sticky and thick and right at face level. You can't see where they are in the dark.

Sometimes on our evening walk home up the sidewalk (too much traffic to walk in the street) we pass inches beneath the spiders lurking in what remains of the top half of their webs where the bottom half has been taken out by the unlucky morning dog-walkers, delivery boys, visiting surfers, or good Samaritans who bring their brooms out to clear a path as a courtesy for the rest of us. Sometimes you can see the outline of the head of the tallest  person who obliterated the bottom of the web.

** Travis - don't worry these are not poisonous funnel web spiders.