Walking: A brief instructional rant
Walking. It's not very hard.
Or so you'd think.
Yes, there's snow on the ground, obviously that makes the entire process more difficult.
But CAMMON. We live in a society of rules! There has to be an established code of conduct for walking, and I intend to at least start with some basic rules, especially when one lives in Canada and attends a crowded university with poorly laid out infrastructure to begin with.
1) I think you're entitled to walk at your own pace, but my GOD, just stick to the right and let other people get past you. If you feel like taking a nice, casual stroll, more power to you, but don't walk right down the middle of the sidewalk, or weave from side to side. This applies even further to people talking on their cellphones/listening to headphones. It is never cool to just slide on down the middle of a sidewalk, going like 10 feet an hour, and being entirely oblivious to everyone around you.
2) Two people are walking towards one another on the same sidewalk. After a heavy snowfall, there is only a narrowly tread path of easily walked-upon sidewalk left. These people inevitably cross paths. What is the acceptable protocol for their meeting?
a) They both step off the path, getting snowy, but avoiding the already tread path out of mutual respect for the other
b) If one person has an easier time getting out (ie: the meet at a spot where there is an obvious plow-line for one person to step towards), the person takes the obvious path early enough to let the other keep their original path
c) One person sticks to the path and waits for the other person to go around.
d) a and b
If you said c), you seriously need to consider killing yourself. I had this happen to me like FOUR times today. It's a narrow path, and these people walk at you, head down, until you inevitably get shouldered away. No 'sorry' or 'I didn't see you'. Just a grunt of contact and they continue walking. Now, I had a few a)'s happen, and a few b)'s, but the MAJORITY were c)'s. I couldn't understand it.
3) If you're walking with a group of people, it is -not- appropriate to walk slowly, 4 wide, across the length of a sidewalk. I don't care who you are. Buddy up, file up, and let people get past you, should they need to. It's like common sense!
4) STAY TO THE RIGHT, PASS ON THE LEFT. I thought this was common knowledge, but my God, apparently it's kosher to weave and cut in front of people randomly. I think snow makes people insane, or something. I almost got killed twice from these kids booking it right in front of me, holding a coffee, just trying to walk, fer chrissakes.
5) Cars are bigger, stronger, and faster than you. It is not appropriate to just cross at an intersection when you get there. Especially if the motorist has been waiting. There's like 2 intersections on campus where kids just cross when they feel like it, not even looking at the traffic coming at them, or the people obviously waiting to turn. It's phenomenal. I watched a lady wait in her car for like 5 minutes just to turn. Nobody gave her a wave. When one person would stop to let her go, a person behind them would start walking, oblivious to the situation, and that would somehow give license to the original person to go, now that the car is already stopped. It was amazingly frustrating, and I'm not even in the car! It was beyond belief.
Alright, that's my rant for the day. All of the above happened between 8:30 this morning and...right now? It's like 4:30.
It was amazing, I assure you.
~Spots.
PS: Seriously, if you're a c), we can't be friends. I loathe everything you are.
Or so you'd think.
Yes, there's snow on the ground, obviously that makes the entire process more difficult.
But CAMMON. We live in a society of rules! There has to be an established code of conduct for walking, and I intend to at least start with some basic rules, especially when one lives in Canada and attends a crowded university with poorly laid out infrastructure to begin with.
1) I think you're entitled to walk at your own pace, but my GOD, just stick to the right and let other people get past you. If you feel like taking a nice, casual stroll, more power to you, but don't walk right down the middle of the sidewalk, or weave from side to side. This applies even further to people talking on their cellphones/listening to headphones. It is never cool to just slide on down the middle of a sidewalk, going like 10 feet an hour, and being entirely oblivious to everyone around you.
2) Two people are walking towards one another on the same sidewalk. After a heavy snowfall, there is only a narrowly tread path of easily walked-upon sidewalk left. These people inevitably cross paths. What is the acceptable protocol for their meeting?
a) They both step off the path, getting snowy, but avoiding the already tread path out of mutual respect for the other
b) If one person has an easier time getting out (ie: the meet at a spot where there is an obvious plow-line for one person to step towards), the person takes the obvious path early enough to let the other keep their original path
c) One person sticks to the path and waits for the other person to go around.
d) a and b
If you said c), you seriously need to consider killing yourself. I had this happen to me like FOUR times today. It's a narrow path, and these people walk at you, head down, until you inevitably get shouldered away. No 'sorry' or 'I didn't see you'. Just a grunt of contact and they continue walking. Now, I had a few a)'s happen, and a few b)'s, but the MAJORITY were c)'s. I couldn't understand it.
3) If you're walking with a group of people, it is -not- appropriate to walk slowly, 4 wide, across the length of a sidewalk. I don't care who you are. Buddy up, file up, and let people get past you, should they need to. It's like common sense!
4) STAY TO THE RIGHT, PASS ON THE LEFT. I thought this was common knowledge, but my God, apparently it's kosher to weave and cut in front of people randomly. I think snow makes people insane, or something. I almost got killed twice from these kids booking it right in front of me, holding a coffee, just trying to walk, fer chrissakes.
5) Cars are bigger, stronger, and faster than you. It is not appropriate to just cross at an intersection when you get there. Especially if the motorist has been waiting. There's like 2 intersections on campus where kids just cross when they feel like it, not even looking at the traffic coming at them, or the people obviously waiting to turn. It's phenomenal. I watched a lady wait in her car for like 5 minutes just to turn. Nobody gave her a wave. When one person would stop to let her go, a person behind them would start walking, oblivious to the situation, and that would somehow give license to the original person to go, now that the car is already stopped. It was amazingly frustrating, and I'm not even in the car! It was beyond belief.
Alright, that's my rant for the day. All of the above happened between 8:30 this morning and...right now? It's like 4:30.
It was amazing, I assure you.
~Spots.
PS: Seriously, if you're a c), we can't be friends. I loathe everything you are.