i’m always amused by the heckler column in the sydney morning herald. i realised this afternoon, in a fit of work avoidance, that i’d missed a few from earlier in the month and found this little gripe about poor pedestrian behaviour on sydney streets and footpaths.
although i’m struggling to think of any melbourne streets that have pedestrian dividers, and i can’t quite remember seeing ‘keep left’ or ‘keep right’ signs in any city i’ve been to, that’s probably just me. i think i can safely say though, that wayne has never been to sweden. right from the very start i noticed it, particularly where public transport is concerned. i’ve never been bumped, blocked, shoved or jostled so much in my entire life. infact, i don’t even think i’ve ever even used the word jostled before.
i try not to take up too much space when i’m walking around or getting on and off trains and the like. i try to stay out of people’s way, because i’d like to think i was brought up with a reasonable grip on what’s polite. that is to say, i used to try and stay out of people’s way. now it seems that the best tactic is just to set your shoulders and assume that people aren’t going to get out of your way. you still get bumped, but at least you feel more like the bumper, than the bumpee.
still, at least i haven’t had my expensive thomas pink shirt ruined by some random smoker, that would be absolutely the last straw.