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

[EarwigO]

Is it just me or is this getting worse?
You're walking along, someone (or a group of people) come the other way, you both need to move slightly to pass without colliding. Only they don't.

It used to be a thing I noticed men doing - I got so annoyed with having to step into the gutter/press myself against a wall to avoid them, I stopped doing it and let them walk into me. At which point they invariably apologised!

But it seems to happen so much more frequently now, and not with men - usually a couple or a group of women.
Do they honestly not notice you? Not care? Just expect you to disappear out their way?

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)

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.

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.

@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.

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.

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

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 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.

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.

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.

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!!!

Yeah I was more thinking of a frazzled parent with a stroppy toddler! Agree absolutely that children should be taught to be considerate from an early age.

Totally! We've moved so that I have to walk in the opposite direction to a different primary school empyting out as I walk home with DD from pickup.

Most days I arrive home in a stinking mood as it is a battle to get through - DD and I walk in single file on one side of the pavement and the amount of families (the adults are just as bad) who seem to think that we need to either stop for them to come through, or should be walking in the road. I cannot believe the entitlement. Some days I take great pleasure in holding my line and seeing how many people I can hit wit my shoulder.

And don't even get me started on the phalanx of Mum joggers from the same school who come steaming through, 2 by 2 and 3 by 3 at speed - can't possibly run in single file and I've been forced into the bins by them before.

Gormless idiots, they should go single file it's crazy.

If they were a car acting like that they would crash.

Can't stand ppl who just stop suddenly dead, do t they realise there might be someone behind.

My major irritation is people barrelling towards me on our village's narrow foot paths whilst their heads are down looking at their mobile phones!
I'm very tempted to just stand there and let them bump into me, but I'm worried that they wouldn't even stop then and I'd be left on the floor a mangled heap! I'm thin and live with a life-limiting chronic illness, otherwise I'd do it . . .

Ugh, just reading that is making me angry. 😡

There are an awful lot of self-entitled people around. I think it's worse since lockdowns and I have no idea why.

I'm a cyclist and I don't ride on pavements but shared paths are a nightmare. People walking in 3 or 4 so taking up both paths, people with dogs on long leads so where am I supposed to go.

Ring my bell and get totally ignored, or the ones who jump out of their skin, your on a shared path, expect bikes! School run is a nightmare, older kids shouting abuse, parents telling kids to more out off way and the kids runs the wrong way.

Given increasing urban density, it’s not surprising this seems to be the case. you will come across more people you need to pass on the pavement. Even if the same percentage don’t move out of the way, you will still encounter more incidents of people not moving.

Which doesn’t mean there isn’t also a cultural change, but it may just be down to density.

Haha this made me snort

also enjoyed @hettiethehare ’s ‘phalanx of mum joggers’

This thread reminded me of the elaborate dives into ongoing traffic people did round here when we all had to social distance haha

I was out for my very slooow run yesterday morning and part of my usual route is a path around some playing fields. There's enough room for two people to walk past each other comfortably. But two women were coming from the other direction and just kept on running at me without moving into single file, which to me seems the polite thing to do. I ended up running onto the muddy bank and was bloody raging with myself for not sticking to my place on the path. That's what pisses me off the most - the fact that I generally move aside for other people. I also direct my children into single file when others are approaching. Very very few do it for me.

It’s just new rules for an expanded game of Patriarchy Chicken.

What about those who are parked half bumped up a kerb and leave their car door open so no one can physically pass? I get this all the time on the school run and they take their goddam time “sorry one moment just strapping the kids in” rather than close the door to let people pass then continue.

I haven't (I don't think) had anyone jump over my cane. However on two occasions I have had people trip over it whilst walking from the side whilst looking at their phone. I don't grip it tightly in case this happens, or in case it catches on things; so my cane usually falls when it is tripped over.

People on their phones are the worst and deserve to get bumped into.

It's not somebody else's responsibility to avoid you, if you can't walk in a straight line because your eyes are on your phone and not the path!

It’s definitely got worse! Last night I almost walked straight into a guy. He was with 2 other people and they were taking up the entire width of the pavement. I moved to the curb side but couldn’t step into the road (and why should I??) because there was a bus coming that was about to pull into a bus stop and he literally didn’t flinch to move across until the very last minute. To be honest I was prepared to walk straight into him just to make a point!!