Walk this way.

You know back in Manhattan where I grew up, every road was pretty much flanked with sidewalks. Wide ones too, like 2 car lanes wide each. That's understandable, considering the amount of people in the city at all times (the city that never sleeps, y'know?). And thank God for these sidewalks, without them mincemeat production in America would grow substantially. Every pedestrian uses them, no questions asked.

Pictured: The equivalent width of a Maltese road.

Here in Gozo it's a little different. While Malta has one of the, if not THE, densest populations in Europe, car lane-wide sidewalks are unnecessary in most villages. People mostly get around by car or bus, despite having the grocery shop and parish church just around the corner.

So, not that many pedestrians = many cars instead.

The people who do walk generally have sidewalks, provided they aren't trying to be bad-ass by walking from one village to another (yes you, middle-aged women). Now these sidewalks aren't wide but in my opinion are sufficient due to the small towns and villages. There is one problem, however.

Most locals don't, for some reason, think of a sidewalk as a, well, you know, a SIDEWALK. Nope, they just walk on the road right next to the sidewalk. My only theory for this is that people here tend to think of sidewalks as private property belonging to home-owners and that they don't want any trouble. So to avoid such trouble, they cause even more trouble by taking up half the Goddamn road, waddling their asses away like they're leading a marching band. If they hear a car approaching from behind, they can might as well moon you and take a crap right in front of you because they won't move for fuck-all. You just drive slowly behind them until the road widens or they enter a shop where you pass by and scream "USE THE DAMN SIDEWALK, THAT'S WHY IT'S THERE!".

A life saver. But fuck that, I'll just walk right in front of that oncoming garbage truck.

Sidewalk: (noun); walk consisting of a paved area for pedestrians; usually beside a street or roadway.