Still, hot and humid the second Sunday in August came. Julia and I didn't expect to see much when we headed downtown to see what was happening on King Street, which is closed to traffic on the second Sunday of the month.

This event started when Vince Graham of Sullivan's Island blocked off a parking space on King Street last year, put a quarter in the meter and held a party. The city issued a ticket even though no one was sure why you couldn't use a parking space for that. Eventually, the case was dismissed. Everyone involved started talking and a few months later a proposal to close King Street to traffic on certain Sundays was implemented.

Full time pedestrianized zones and streets are now common in Europe. Each of the four cities we visited last month in Ireland, Wales and Scotland had taken generous amounts of urban space from the automobile, upgraded the infrastructure and opened parts of their city center to walking.

From the statue of Molly Malone north, Dublin has blocked a principal street to traffic. It's full of street musicians belting out American R&B hits of the 1960s and old Beatles tunes. Restaurants and bars are busy. Many people arrive by bus or street- level train.

Cork had a polished urban center with beautiful streets paved in local stone, lit by complicated, expensive lighting structures, lively from breakfast to last call. Cardiff had dozens of outdoor cafes, more beautiful smooth stone paving and a lively street scene which linked the covered arcades where shops are found. Even moist, Scottish Glasgow had blocks lined with cafes and business.

It doesn't always work. Our namesake Town of Hamilton, Scotland's urban upgrade street, semi closed to traffic was deserted by 6 p.m.

We're used to seeing streets full of people and activity in places like Paris and Rome, where dry, pleasant weather makes outside a great place to spend time.

There are 2,000 sidewalk cafes in Paris. It was remarkable to see it in Scotland, Ireland and Wales, where people sometimes have their beer and snacks in a cool drizzle.

It was even more remarkable to see it happening in Charleston Sunday where the drizzle emanated from your body instead of falling out of the sky.

However, there were still thousands of people, eating, shopping and socializing.

Restaurants and shops selling modestly priced goods did a great business. Enterprises like Robot Candy Company, Mellow Mushroom and the Pizza Pub had a busy day. Musicians playing everything from accordion to ukulele livened the street.

We saw a few artists painting. Some merchants had racks of goods out on the sidewalk.

A diverse crowd was in attendance. Families with children, college students, retirees, and tourists were all strolling around. We ran into friend and client Kevin Rockwell who was busily promoting his artistic business, which had included a show on the street a few months earlier.

Kevin had decided to deal with the heat by diving into the more robustly air conditioned stores, grabbing some free samples and hanging out long enough for the cool dry air to wick some of the sweat out of his clothing.

Then he was back out on the street, shaking hands, meeting friends and handing out invitations to his next art show. Kevin was an artist on the make, but it was a lot better than sitting at home pushing updates out into cyberspace on facebook.

We all finally settled down in front of the Mellow Mushroom. We pursued the extending shade of late afternoon by moving our table further out into the street from the noxious gutter.

We ordered, waited a bit while the overworked staff struggled with the booming business. Finally, with real gratitude, we felt the afternoon breeze fill the street. Clouds swept in, filling the sky with shade.

Our waiter apologized for the delay in serving us. We assured him we weren't in a hurry.

I'm not sure how long it took to get our food out, but we talked to 16 friends in the meantime. We managed to spend almost 90 minutes at the table, a good afternoon.

When you ask for water in Cadiff, Wales, you get a five ounce glass. Water on King Street in August arrives in a twenty ounce tumbler with ice.

One measure of success at an event like this is the number of people carrying shopping bags. One in nine is the goal. King Street was running at about one in three. Several people told me the event meant an extra day of work and pay for them, often including an extra pocket of tips.

Most of the police we passed seemed stressed and distant. I understand we are in difficult times but smiling, even if you do have a loaded weapon, seldom hurts.

The event struggles, as does everything with the needs of the automobile. Space in the surrounding parking garages was easy to get.

At the movement, it seems like a lot of the business is just walking to the street.

However the surrounding streets were crowded with diverted traffic. A coordinated effort with CARTA to bring people downtown by bus, will benefit everyone. The DASH bus, running on a detour route Sunday, was still running full.

While appearing to be a simply superficially, accomplishment, closing a street to traffic is a complicated effort where a significant part of the work has to do with keeping cars out of the area by deploying hundreds of cones, signs and barriers. Second Sundays on King streets increasing popularity however, shows that even on a hot day in summer, the Lowcountry is eager for a walkable opportunity to meet, eat and market where the car is kept out of the way.

William Hamilton (www.wjhamilton.com) is an attorney who lives in I'On Village.