Today’s walk took me through the Burnaby side of Boundary Road. The cherry blossoms, rain, and daffodils all marked the full arrival of spring. What surprised me was the complete either lack or long gaps of sidewalks in the residential areas. The desire lines of people making it work show in the mud. The pervasive lack of sidewalks in 2018 is really astonishing given the nearby school and no sidewalks on either side of a connecting street. I walked for 15 minutes before finding a connecting sidewalk.

The nearby industrial transition area between the Vancouver and Burnaby residential areas had sidewalks(!) but with newer hydro poles in the middle. The location of these power poles is just awful. For several blocks uphill the let-downs and poles create such a strong deterrent to using the sidewalk, I would never expect anyone carrying or pushing anything to use the sidewalk, which begs the question: who decided the poles should go there?

Such a beautiful neighbourhood with hills and blind corners and no sidewalks. How many of the local children would be allowed to walk to school?