to think that people you see out walking would at least smile

[gallifrey]

I went out for a walk yesterday, an old couple were walking toward me, I smiled at them and they just glared back at me.
I then saw a man about my age, he got his phone out and started looking at that rather than make eye contact with me.
The next person I saw smiled and said hello as did the next one.

You get my drift...

What is so bloody hard about saying hello or smiling at a fellow human being?

Lol Agincourt I love people like you, they make my day :o Animal impressions are funny :o

Smiling is free and as others have said it's realy important to smile at / say hello to elderly people who may well have no other social contact.

We live in the Chilterns and go for a walk most weekends. We always say hello and 90% of people say hello back but we do get blanked occasionally. We always mouth "Londoners" to each other after they walk on.

oh i live near the chlterns mumblechum, have never walked there mind...do you have any tips?

YANBU, but then I live quite rurally. You say hello to everyone you pass around here!

Agincourt, we're walking distance from Turville, Hambleden, Fingest, etc. Just get yourself a map and picnic and go for it

<a class="break-all" href="http://www.google.co.uk/imgres?hl=en&sa=X&biw=1011&bih=600&tbm=isch&prmd=imvns&tbnid=2xH-UOkpOin3QM:&imgrefurl=pgdl.co.uk/p2/photos/20071103_hambleden/index.htm&docid=V5yjo-H-lkqCiM&imgurl=pgdl.co.uk/p2/photos/20071103_hambleden/dsc_3581_20071103.jpg&w=800&h=537&ei=u5JnT6y0FpH68QPJkujsCA&zoom=1" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">www.google.co.uk/imgres?hl=en&sa=X&biw=1011&bih=600&tbm=isch&prmd=imvns&tbnid=2xH-UOkpOin3QM:&imgrefurl=pgdl.co.uk/p2/photos/20071103_hambleden/index.htm&docid=V5yjo-H-lkqCiM&imgurl=pgdl.co.uk/p2/photos/20071103_hambleden/dsc_3581_20071103.jpg&w=800&h=537&ei=u5JnT6y0FpH68QPJkujsCA&zoom=1

I think lots of people are shy. I used to think a mum at school was really antisocial and a bit rude. Turned out when I invited her son over for tea then subsequently got to know her that she was in an abusive marriage, is incredibly shy and has Chronic Fatigue Syndrome. Felt horribly guilty for judging her, so now always give people the benefit of the doubt, and also grin insanely at everyone in the village where I live

Can I just point out that recommendations for walks belong (until we get our Outdoorsy Shite topic) World Cup 2010, with a thread title prefaced 'Outdoorsy Shite:'

YANBU. I often smile and say hello and often people reciprocate. The others, well if they can't even be bothered to say hello I don't care if their opinion is that I'm bonkers :o

I moved from a largish city in northern Ireland, where I'd lived all my life & everyone you walked past said hello, to go to uni in Plymouth 14 years ago. I very quickly discovered that human interaction with someone just a few feet away from you was not de rigeur. My new English friend's called me crocodile Dundee for a few weeks!
I live in a medium town in Somerset now & it varies wildly!

We smile and say hello to almost everyone we walk past on the way to school in the morning-because its all the same people.
I know if we are late or not depending on where we cross paths with people!
Usually they smile and say hello back.

I think it depends on how remote the area is. If there are only a few people you meet I'll smile and say hello, where as if I'm going into town or walking in a busy area I'll just get on with getting there. I'm often thinking of something else so not really concentrating on other people anyway.
maybe the difference is people "going for a walk" and peole "walking to x".
I suspect dogwalkers are more into "going for a walk".

I feel sorry for DS, he likes to say "hello" and "bye" to everyone he passes, if they don't reply he says it again, and he looks really puzzled when people don't want to talk to him, hehe

I love it when people actually reply, and he just says it again and again and again and they feel rude to stop talking to him so they keep going too!

Oh lord, you're one of these people that feels entitled to say how other people should arrange their faces when walking along minding their own business. Not everyone wants to interact with every person they meet on the street.

I thought that smiling/talking whilst walking dogs was guaranteed but sadly not. We moved to a new house about a mile away and it's totally different. Other dog walkers in the park shuffle away and avoid your eye. I think I've had only three people talk to me since I moved two years ago, one who also has labs, one who had labs and now has fat westies and one from Poland with a massive gsd wolfhound cross. I miss my old stomping ground (sobs), everyone knew my dog not me, I was just holding the lead even people who hadn't met him would hear me calling his name and say "oh is that Dougal, my has told me all about him"

move up north, then every other person will call you petal or duck! (not going to admit that I liked it)

I live in the south east, and always when out walking put on my northern head and say hello to everyone I meet before they have chance to avoid me.

I live in the south east, just by the south downs :)

I am from manchester but moved to London 15 years ago. Everyone says hello, good morning etc up north. No-one says hello down here either walking down the street, jogging, in the park or whereever. I am kind of used to it now but I think its a north-south divide thing.