Walking the city

We apparently walked our feet off yesterday, despite frequent jaunts on the Underground. Today I’m in sneakers and Sydney says his feet are still tender. But we’re finding the walking here a bit interesting:

– Since the traffic is on the left side, we thought people would walk on the left side, pass on the right, etc. But no, they only do that when going into and out of the tube stations, and that only because there are major signs to that effect all over and the escalators refuse to accomodate those going the wrong way. Most of the time, we find people walk on the right. We’ve confirmed this after testing it on the street: I’d walk straight toward the person about to meet us in the walkway, and they’d inevitably dodge to my left, as if I were wrong to think a country should be consistent in its traffic patterns!

– Londoners don’t wait for the traffic lights to indicate they have the right of way to walk. Instead, they take any opportunity to cross the street, including walking right in front of cars. Sydney and I are rather adventurous about some things, but we’ve been slightly appalled by their readiness to get out and paste themselves onto the front of a bus. Apparently this is inculcated in the Londoner in childhood: we saw a young mother hauling her toddler along by the coat when he didn’t immediately jump into the middle of the road while traffic headed toward him. With these kinds of risky behaviors, perhaps I can see why they aren’t worried about the negative effects of smoking . . .

These are just a couple of the bizzare things that have stopped us in our tracks or kept us guessing while we’re here. For the most part, however, despite the lack of street signs, we are easily finding our way. The underground actually has great signage!

Erin