People who don't move out the way on the pavement

Omg I was just thinking this today.

I don't actually think it's got worse. I've run and walked on London pavements and paths for many years and it's always been a bugbear.

I don't expect anyone to make room for me, per se. What I do expect is when the path/pavement is narrow enough that we can't pass without one of us lurching into the gutter or getting flattened into a wall, and we can see each other coming, you DON'T CARRY ON WALKING ABREAST and taking up the entire pavement.

The worst offenders based on over a decade of observational experience are

• massive multi-generational families, usually headed by an absolute dickhead of a man who you just know thinks of himself as the "head of the household". Reminds me of the awful rugby lads who use their physical bulk to intimidate smaller people in pubs, but in their 50s rather than 20s
• Heterosexual couples who can't let go of each other's hands
• Parents (sorry MN) whose attitude seems to be that only the middle of the path is good enough for their buggy, and anyone coming the other way can just get in the gutter

God I hate these people!!!

50s = gen z. Or is it x 🙃
I don’t move out of the way unless others do.
Sick of being the doormat, so living by a wealth of past experience.

We were taught to walk on the right ( Catholic school, the left side is the side of the Devil

I don't think the area I live in is especially Catholic, although there are a couple of Catholic churches. But it makes more sense to walk on the left because we drive on the left as well; and you are also on the traffic side, so you can see to walk in the road if it's safe to do so.

I keep well to the left and I expect groups to go single file and move over. It's the middle-aged couples who won't let go hands and parents with buggies (and often also a dog) who seem to think that I should walk in the gutter/mud/get run over. I won't.

If I see people from a long way back and I can safely cross the road to the opposite pavement, I do.

Sometimes I just stop and make people go round me. The couples have to let go. My mum said she had this and one of them said "so rude" as they went past. She is 84. It's not her job to get out of the way of performative couples. You aren't teenagers, you don't need to hold hands to prove you have a boy/girlfriend.

Obviously if someone is infirm, I give them space.

A year or so ago I was walking my dog (Labrador - plenty big enough to be entirely visible) and about 20 runners came in the opposite direction in a pack. Not only did none of them move out of the way, but two of them actually stuck their arms out and forced me and my dog into the hedge!

I'm 50 odd, I'm definitely not a boomer, but my patents who are mid to late 70s are. Check your facts.

That’s weird
We were taught to walk on the right ( Catholic school, the left side is the side of the Devil, 🫤🫤)
We we’re also taught that our shoulders should skim the corridor wall.

If You couldn’t cope with Blackpool avoid Bluewater shopping centre, it’s much the same.

@CheshireCat1 I squeeze past too if there's enough room, one day my rucksack will probably take off someone's wing mirror and I won't give a shit frankly. They also park on the double yellows by the corner so it's impossible to see if anything's coming.

I used to walk to school along a very narrow path along the side of a medieval building, carrying a briefcase full of marking as I walked from the station. Along this path I would meet what I believe in Japan are called salarymen in their suits, and invariably I was the one who stepped off the single file path to the road to let them past. No acknowledgement, of course. I got fed up with it, so watched to see what signal I was responding to. And then I tried it on them. Briefcase in my right hand. away from the wall, instead of my left, and a determined look of blankly unseeing them. And they stepped off the path. But it used a certain amount of psychological energy, and anyway, I didn't want to be the person who did that to people.
And then, in a nice Cotswold town, I had to walk for a while limping and with a stick. And the entitled mothers with SUV double seater pushchairs who would approach from behind and expect me to get out of the way. (Of course, being where it was, they might have been titled mothers with SUV double seater pushchairs! But no excuse.)
Both of these were some time ago, though.

I refuse to ever go back to Blackpool now because of how many ignorant people are there now! It's the families walking together from all generations point blank refusing to move with the flow, totally oblivious to anyone else. After a while of getting sick of being the only ones to swerve them, I held my ground and rubbed shoulders with them. This was on the promenade so plenty of space but those people just had no social awareness about them, didn't even blink as they partially walked into us!

We were taught to walk on the left at school, as a general rule that's what I still do. I'll happily step kerbside/onto the road to make sure elderly/children are safe wall side.

We were on holiday a couple of years ago. Ds1 and i were sitting at a pavement cafe, watching streams and streams of tourists walking down the road, it was like a river of people.
Right in the middle sat a tiny cat, washing itself.
And every single person swerved round it. Every . Single. One. Nobody tripped over it, or kicked it or anything.
Cat was as cool as a cucumber and just carried on licking its paw.

That is the kind of confidence you need to exude in these situations
(not that I know how it's done lol)

This drives me fucking MAD!!!
There's a particular stupid mum on the school run who walks 3 abreast with her 2 kids (pavement is bushes one side, brick wall the other) who couldnt possibly make them go single file for me (walking as close to the brick wall as I can without scraping myself down it) to pass. One day I think I will actually scream in her face 'EXCUSE YOU!!!!' 🤬

Yes exactly, see the other thread on here, about this very thing. Doing nothing wrong apparently! Aaargh.

Same here. I don't automatically step aside anymore.
If there's more than one person coming in the opposite direction, it's up to them to make space by going into single file if necessary.

I also live near a school and if I happen to be out walking around time of school drop off/ pick up I notice some groups of parents who seem to think everyone else should get out of their way as they take up the path.

Nope.

I do this too! I remember many years ago at Alton Towers, a group of 8 or more were walking with linked arms and became very abusive when I wouldn't jump into the lake to let them continue!

Yes!

And my other 'favourite' is the person walking a dog, often on an extendable lead and they seem to expect that you should get out of their way as the lead trails across the path, dog on one side, person on other side. 😡

Love this... and love your name.

I will not move into the road for a human shield (as I call them) and have regularly smashed into the teenage girls that walk around our city (I live near an all girls school).

My kids get told to move, but wouldn't do so without my training them to.

I don’t move for cyclists, skateboards, scooters
Ever
The only exception is kids who are being helped by their parents.ie the parent is holding on to the handlebars. Once a kid rides unaided that’s it for me. It’s illegal to ride on a pavement.

As a parent with toddlers I always moved them closer to me and got out of other peoples way, even if we had to stand still to let them pass.
If you leap into the road without them making an effort to move too you’re letting the next generation to be entitled.

Just a thought
Id go with the PP and the Hyacinth Bouquet strategy. Thinking of doing that even if I’m on my own. 🤣

This!

Auriol Grey was a case in point.........

X post
jeez

what utter wankers.

Mirandia "The Brits have an unusually large personal space bubble."

compared to...?

I'm afraid I still notice this with men but I've left London so that has helped a lot.

Just last night I was downtown after work - I was walking on a fairly narrow but busy footpath and there were 3 tall gangly young lads (20s) walking towards me. Not one of them gave me any room - in fact they knocked my headphones off and when I said FFS or similar they all started shouting at me - not sure what they said as they were speaking a different language but you would think that I had tried to trip them up.

Yes, just like that cyclist who nearly mowed down Auriol Grey.................she was on a pavement.

And she ended up in jail.

This happens so much where I live now and I thought I was the only one getting irritated by it.

I’ve always been a ‘move to single file’ person on narrow pavements and have brought my child up the same but the amount of people who try to shunt him or me in to the road so they can continue to walk two abreast effs me the hell right off.

I’ve started adopting a Hyacinth Bouquet voice, trilling “Single file sweetheart so the people can get past!” when I’m with my son which has had some success in jolting ignoramouses out of their stupor.