It's the probing beakers what done it.
I finally figured it out.
The pavement here in Cuenca is rough. Really rough.
Have you ever been to sea? I haven't, so I don't know what it's like. But I can imagine.
I can imagine a lot of things, but none of that matters here, so let's get on with it.
There are streets here, as you might know. Streets are pretty common these days. You see them all over, in all sorts of situations.
I don't really care much about the streets, except that I have to cross them. That's interesting. We'll cover that later on, some other day.
What concerns me more, because I have feet and use them for getting around, is sidewalks. I guess I should put that in quotes.
Like this: "sidewalks".
The quotes cover a lot of ground. I'll have to go into that in more detail later on. It's an almost infinite subject.
But right now let's talk lumps.
We have lumps here.
Lumps in the streets, lumps in the "sidewalks", lumps in the not-sidewalks, lumps all over.
You could say, if you wanted to say something, that the "sidewalks" are eroded, though some have been hacked up.
You could say, if you wanted to say something else, that the "sidewalks" have been hacked up, though some don't look like it so much. They look like they were assembled at midnight by a bunch of drunks.
But knowing next to nothing about how drunks work at midnight, I'm not exactly sure about that.
I do know, and am a particular expert in, walking on lumps, having spent many days hiking around and on the sides of, volcanoes, some of which are actually famous.
Mt Rainier, Mt Hood, Mt Adams, Mt St Helens. Get it?
No?
Go backpacking then, on the sides of volcanoes, and then we'll talk.
Anyway, I know some things about lumps, and on-lumpy walking. Some things. Enough things, I think.
Not bragging, just facts.
So here. We have lumpy surfaces to do the walking on. And.
I think I know why it is that way.
Beaks.
It's the pigeons and their peckers, always hammering at the pavement.
Pigeons are thick on the ground here, always slamming the sharp tips of their ever-refreshed beaks against the pavement, going after seeds and breadcrumbs and anything that looks remotely edible and is also peckable.
After a few centuries all those probing, pounding fore-pieces, however tiny, do have an effect.
Which is.
Lumpy "sidewalks".
Whether "sidewalks" is the right term we'll leave to the experts, but lumps I know.
And I think the pigeons done it.
Come and see and you'll agree. Maybe.