Random observations from San Sebastian
Random observation #1: On on a walk one day, we watched a car screech to a halt inches from a woman who crossed the street without a walk sign. Nine times out of ten in the United States, both the woman who walked on red and the man in the car who took the bend too quickly would have started “mfing” each other, no matter whose fault it was. Here, the man looked horrified, the woman looked ashamed, and they proceeded to have, in the middle of the road, what appeared to be a heartfelt conversation expressing gratitude that no one was hurt.
Observation #2: Babies in strollers and unleashed dogs are EVERYWHERE in San Sebastian. The unleashed pooches amused me. Big dogs, little dogs, no matter, they come with you to the store, the bar, the market, the restaurant, the museum. This would never fly in America, and my cynical lawyer side guesses it is because leash laws and dog bite laws make people fear liability.
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| From San Sebastian |
One afternoon, I was waiting for Sean outside a museum. A very large fluffy dog sat at the entrance, unleashed, waiting for his owners to emerge. Every time the door would open, he picked up his head hopefully. Then a poodle, unleashed, walked by with a couple. Oh, no, I thought. There is going to be trouble. But the big dog just calmly got up and walked over to the little dog. They do that thing that dogs do upon greeting (you know, circle each other for a minute and sniff each others’ butts). Upon deciding that the others’ butt smelled satisfactory, or whatever it is that dogs decide, the big dog just laid back down. When his owners finally came out, he silently trotted alongside them down the hill and out of sight. I was impressed.