I usually like to get out early, or skip weekends all together as often they are more busy, and its also a different vibe. If you go very early in the morning on a weekend, you generally get the more hard core set, the spandex cyclists, the fast 20 somethings passing you, and you get a lot of quiet in between. On a weekday, you'll encounter the dog walkers, the older set, and many, many hellos. I often judge a place by the reception you get on the local walking path. You may recall my comparison between the Polish and the Spanish on this scale? Well, the UK weekday path people are quite friendly. Most say hello or good morning, and at the very least the nod-and-smile (or grimace) is de rigueur.
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| Canal path |
On the weekend, it is quite different; there are no hellos and very little nodding and smiling. It did not help that I had a call with a friend that went longer than expected, so I did not get out to the path until after 9 am. This is like going to brunch on the weekend; its not really my cup of tea (see what I did there), as its often crowded, or there are lines, and everything takes longer. Despite having all the time in the world, I still do not want to waste it. However, on the path, there are no lines, but the weekend people were out in full force. The dog walkers, the baby strollers, the fishermen, the large groups of friends and families, the slow runners, the fast runners, the hungover teenagers, the cyclists and the Sunday Saturday strolling folks were all there. This brings a different dynamic to the path, as in the fact that each of these groups has a different level of awareness of those around them, and each of the groups has different ways of doing things, or different rules.
For example, the fishermen and some of the hungover teenagers were smoking. While it is a free world and smokers can smoke outside legally, it is quite a shock when you are running past and you get a lungful of smoke. There were two influencers young ladies wearing bra tops and booty shorts and at least a gallon of perfume which were not much better. There was a group of about a dozen young lads who appeared to have just left the club and decided to stroll along the canal path for some reason, but were not really interested in getting out of the way of all the other dozens and dozens of people passing them.
The thing that really surprised and confuddled me is the fact there are seemingly no rules about which side of the path to stay on. In my mind, if you drive on the right, you walk or ride on the right and pass on the left, and if you drive on the left you walk or ride on the left, and pass on the right. People were walking willy-nilly though. Some were on the right, some on the left, and some of the bigger groups took up the entire path despite it being quite busy, so a run down the path involved a lot of games of chicken (I was running on the left) and much weaving around the slower and/or other sided people. It concerned me so much that I was doing it wrong that I looked it up and apparently there is no rule; people can choose to go on whatever side they want. Being in a place where the residents are poked fun at for their love of queueing (btw, this is one word with five vowels in a row), I am shocked that they don't have a rule for this.
This is also true in other places in the UK, like the airport or train station, where the escalator is sometimes on the left and sometimes on the right. I even saw it on the stairs at the train station, where the directions are clearly marked (walking on the left) and people just go wherever they want, even when its quite busy. Maybe this is extra noticeable to me because my last foreign forays were in Japan and Taiwan where there are lots of rules. I am not saying that people on a sidewalk in these countries are marching along on one side uniformly, but generally on the bike or walking path, people stick to one side, and in the train stations there are often line drawings on the ground showing where to walk or to stand.
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| Please keep left |
Lest ye think I am complaining, I assure you that am not. I find it interesting to see how people interact or act around the world, and I really enjoy seeing how different people in different places do things. I like being curious and observing and asking questions, although I have yet to pull over a dog walker to ask them why the heck they are walking on the right side of the path! There's still time though...
What do you think about when you are walking, hiking or running? Do people say good morning to you when you are out walking? Do people stick to one side of the walking paths in the area where you are?
I live in the upper Midwest. We greet every single person we see. Dog walks are me just waving at strangers with other dogs. Going to the grocery store is just walking around with a fake smile on your face because heaven forbid you don't acknowledge someone. I, obviously, love it. However, when I travel, I sometimes forget that this level of in your face friendliness is not universal.
ReplyDeleteWe walk on the right and pass on the left as is the natural way of it.
Living in a small town anywhere is hard for sure! You obviously know people and can't ignore them!
DeleteI did a sit for my friend's dog in a very friendly neighborhood in Portland and to be honest I kind of just wanted to walk the dog but had to say hi to everyone and let the dogs play together and it got kind of tiring socializing with people. I love the friendliness except when I get stuck by it and can't get away. I like being friendly to people on the running path as it's just the polite thing to do and often we are in the same boat but on weekends it's just too much!
I always at least nod and smile to people I pass, and I receive that in return - almost never does this not happen. This was the same for Calgary and Kelowna. I'm a chatty person though, so I really enjoy the interactions.
ReplyDeleteI ran on the river path in Calgary but it was cold out, and I don't really remember if people were friendly or not. I also ran in Banff on the river path, and people were friendly, but also I do think that a lot of people on that path are tourists, so I would not judge Canadians or locals if the people on the path were not friendly! Also I am not chatty, but I still think a nod or smile goes a long way.
DeletePeople in Minneapolis are pretty good about walking on the right side of the path. You were encounter clueless groups that will take up the entire path WHICH IS SO RUDE. I walk to church with the boys nearly every Sunday and they now know what it means to "skinny up" - that is the term our running coach used and he would yell at people if they did not comply. We never wanted to have a reputation of being a rude running club. Now the boys will yell 'skinny up' to each other or sometimes 'share the path' (which is what I say when we encounter another person on the sidewalk).
ReplyDeleteI usually would greet people when out for a walk or at least give them a head nod. But if they don't look up, I don't care. People are often in the zone when they are out walking or running and might be oblivious to what's around them (which is not safe but understandable as they might have a lot of worries on their mind).
I feel like when there are a lot of people, like there often are around Lake Harriet for example, I am not going to say hello to every single person!! But if it is a quieter path, I definitely nod or hello people. I don't feel annoyed if they don't do it back, but I do like observing the differences in different places!
DeleteI am glad you are teaching the boys early, as I do find big groups who are so rude, or even groups of two or three where the path is only two or three people wide, who don't even move when you are coming toward them. I have had to accidentally elbow people out of the way on my path in Oakland in the past, and I find it quite annoying that it even comes to that sometimes.
I love your observations about how people in different countries act when they're out walking. I have a unique situation where I don't encounter random people out walking, just cattle, and they don't say too much. I used to think a lot when walking, but lately I just try to concentrate on what I'm doing so I don't fall. Perhaps I just don't have as many thoughts now, and I don't mean that in a bad way. It's rather nice!
ReplyDeleteLife lesson right there: what gets written down gets remembered.
ReplyDeleteI love picking up on the different vibes of places. Like you say, in some places people are very warm, and in others they are cold. I've never taken note of weekday vs weekend vibes, so that can be my next mission.
OMG, I had the exact same problem when I was in the UK. I could not work out which side of the path I should be running on. It should be the same as in the US—walk on the left, but everyone seemed to walk/run wherever they wanted. We have a shared coastal path near us and they have painted arrows on the laners so people know which way to go but I still see many people on the wrong side. Often tourists or others from overseas I think, but even non-English speakers should be able to understand you walk in the direction of the arrow. Sometimes I will tell them as I run past that they are on the wrong side of the path because it is really hard for bike riders.
ReplyDeleteWhen I run, I often try to organize what I want to accomplish that day. I'll think of things I need to add to my to do list, and I never ever stop to text those thoughts to myself. I try to come up with clever ways to remember. Sometimes that works, and others - not so much.
ReplyDeleteI always say hi to people when I'm out running. Most of the time people have ear buds in and don't hear me or don't respond. This morning I gave a woman a fright when I was running over a path that crosses the gofl course. I didn't mean to scare her. I thought she could hear my feet. I wasn't RIGHT behind her, like breathing down her neck or anything. She happened to turn and see me and, well, she jumped out of her skin. It wasn't dark out or anything. I was like OOF, SORRY. DIDN'T MEAN TO SNEAK UP ON YOU. (because I wasn't sneaking - it was an open space, in a neighborhood). Anyway, I'm cracking up that you looked up whether or not there were rules. I went for a run in a park in Brooklyn when I was in NYC in August, and that was nuts. So crowded. There are definite lane lines and directions and places for bikes and people, etc. It was quite the experience.
I am not sure how you felt about the customs here in California or if they're even different from area to area... I feel there's a lot of willy-nilly going on here, too.... and what bugs me most is when people are just not considerate of others. I don't really care if you run left or right, as long as you pay attention to your surroundings. I also get the super-friendly runners and the grumpy ones that say nothing an don't even look at you. I haven't quite figured out what it customary and what is just "personal behavior".
ReplyDeleteI often listen to podcasts while I'm running. If there's something in there that I really want to remember, I might stop and make a note in my phone or take a screenshot. As much as you think you'll remember... you WON'T.
ReplyDeleteI think the situation you're describing would drive me berserk. I definitely feel like people in general could follow the "rules of the road" a little better- but the places I run aren't usually that crowded so it's not a tragedy.