the unbearable presence of merde

a) villefranche is a small town with more dogs than people, which is fine if you like dogs but terrible when you realize you're in France where the concept of picking up your dog's turd does not exist. il n'existe pas de tout.

b) villefranche has very narrow winding steep streets with tiny sidewalks (maybe 18 inches across) and rows of parked cars taking up a good chunk of the street. which turns any sort of 'off-sidewalk' walking into a serious health hazard, what with the scooters and trucks and cars coming unexpectedly around the corners. sometimes there's no sidewalk option which means you walk alongside the parked cars and keep an eye out.

when you put a) and b) together you get:
c) something i like to think of as Walking Through A Minefield Each Day. The stretch of sidewalk outside of our apartment is a favourite dumping ground for (judging by size, colour, and consistiency) approx. 8 different dogs of various sizes and diets.
it's bad enough in the daytime when you can see the stuff....honestly if you were to see us from a distance you would ask yourself why grown women are playing hopscotch. uphill.
after 20 days of extreme vigilance i stepped in it a couple days ago on the way to school - you know when you do something and all you can think is "CTRL-Z! Oh no you di'int! CTRL-Z!"? Just me? Okay then.
also, it's worse at night when there are no streetlights to illuminate this sticky little hazard and one is easily distracted by the incredibly clear sky and the stars and the moon and the lights shining on the water.
@#!$%!!!!!