Sidewalk To Heaven

So, I live in the Fairmount section of Philadelphia. Having lived here after college for three years now, two in Fairmount, I have learned that nothing ever happens in the city as a whole (except of course the rise of the Broadzilla), and especially in my neighborhood. Not entirely hating here. I like the tranquility of my neighborhood so much. All I have to put up with each year are bicycle and crew deesh. But it's nice when something changes-- it gives you something to blog about. Well, today my life in Fairmount changed in the biggest possible way. The sidewalk of the Art Museum's new building, situated on Pennsylvania Ave., between 26th St and Fairmount Ave., was finally opened to walkers. Fucking huge deal, I don't need to tell you.

I can't tell you the countless hardships that I had to endure before this sidewalk opened. The Museum or construction company or whoever set up a most crude, temporary (ha!) walking lane, an eight foot high chain-link fence on one side, brutal concrete barriers on the other. The lane was definitely no more than three feet wide. In the winter, the lane would fill with inches of slush, and we all know how that shit can fuck up your day. Also, for a period of time, you would have to traverse a sheet of leftover lauan spanning a fathomless hole. Life risking shit.

And the people, the double-edged sword of Fairmount. There are no hipsters in Fairmount. I love that. No competition. There are a few grups, but nothing I can't handle. For the most part Fairmount residents are yuppies, or older intellectual types. Honestly, pretty great people when you think about it, except when they walk. These people are of the ilk that refuse to break formation, like they can't miss any of the conversation, like they have to be in position to one-up their mates. So I can't even tell you how many times I've been body-checked into one of the concrete barriers-- though at this moment I do have six otherwise inexplicable bruises on my thighs-- or worse into the chain-link fence. What happens when you get pushed into a chain-link fence is you completely lose your balance, but the fence is just strong enough that you won't fall backwards, through it. No, it slings you forward, back into the people that pushed you in the first place, knocking them into the barrier, which slings all of you back into the fence. After two more cycles of that, things finally calm down, and you are left awkwardly knotted in the arms of a sixty something who because he's clearly ten times more worldly and intelligent than I am, leaves me the asshole of the ordeal.

Today's the happiest day of my Fairmount existence thus far. If you passed by the intersection at some point today, you probably saw me walking (skipping with ecstatic exultation) back and forth on the new sidewalk, thoroughly enjoying its bright white concrete and newly planted trees, passing other pedestrians quite amicably and safely. The sidewalk on Pennsylvania between 26th and Fairmount: let's get into this, Philly.