As usual, a few days ago, I was out for a walk. The sun was dipping beneath the horizon. I strolled over a quite cobblestoned alleyway just for a while and turned right to an asphalt road, complete with its pedestrian walkway. Then, after a few hundred meters, it turns to the left and the unfinished footpath starts.

My route is not suitable for a walk, yet it is my usual footpath. As uncomfortable as it looks, it is very crowded. But being familiar with some of the supermarkets in the area makes it, though awkward, a more leisurely walk. All the side buildings, raw meat eateries and boutiques, alighted by their flashy lighting, with vehicles struggling for the few parking spaces, make the area hectic. Undoubtedly, the place is our area’s best shopping spot, or rather the economic epicentre, as evidenced by one of the local banks having two branches within less than a hundred-meter distance.

As usual, I started to moan about some of the people, who reside a stone's throw away from there, as I noted their vehicles, in contrast with what Dan Rubinstein, author, says is "the humble act of putting one foot in front of the other."

"It transcends age, geography, culture, and class, and is one of the most economical and environmentally responsible modes of transit," he writes in "Born To Walk: The Transformative Power of a Pedestrian Act."

Yet, the unfinished walkways and a list of hazards left by buildings under construction leave the street unfriendly and keep pedestrians off it, forcing them to share the main road with the wheeled traffic. As it is almost normal in town, unfrequented walkways are much prone to maintenance hole cover thefts, many of them are not in place, looking as though they are aghast wondering about what is going on.

Then, I started to lament why we could not prevent this theft. We can, for instance, use composite maintenance hole covers instead of the cast iron covers we are very familiar with, as the former has no scrap value. Then I thought about only a few facelifts of streets and its change in some parts of town. Churchill Avenue is a perfect example of this.