"There never seems enough space"
I was walking along last night, on the pavement by the side of a busy road. There's nothing unusual about that. Indeed, another man -- a man who I didn't know -- also had the same idea to walk on the same bit of pavement by the side of that same busy road.
Right next to me.
He'd just crossed the busy road via a pedestrian crossing at exactly the same time as I was was passing and happened to be going in the same direction, so we ended up side by side. But rather than alter his velocity to avoid us continuing to be side by side, this man just carried on walking at the same speed as me. It felt awkward.
It was about two minutes before our paths diverged. That may not seem like a long time, but when you're being forced to share pavement space with an obdurate man you don't know, it can seem like forever. Of course, I could have slowed down a little bit to avoid the embarrassment, but I WAS THERE FIRST! I wasn't going to be bullied into slightly changing my walking speed by anybody. I am a reasonable man, but giving pavement bullies the upper hand is not something I will tolerate!
Right next to me.
He'd just crossed the busy road via a pedestrian crossing at exactly the same time as I was was passing and happened to be going in the same direction, so we ended up side by side. But rather than alter his velocity to avoid us continuing to be side by side, this man just carried on walking at the same speed as me. It felt awkward.
It was about two minutes before our paths diverged. That may not seem like a long time, but when you're being forced to share pavement space with an obdurate man you don't know, it can seem like forever. Of course, I could have slowed down a little bit to avoid the embarrassment, but I WAS THERE FIRST! I wasn't going to be bullied into slightly changing my walking speed by anybody. I am a reasonable man, but giving pavement bullies the upper hand is not something I will tolerate!