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?

I can't get The Verve-Bitter sweet Symphony song out of my head while imagining I'm the one barging people giving no fucks!

It's not something I've noticed especially, but also it doesn't really annoy me

One of my true bugbears, and I can’t comprehend the mindset of people who don’t move slightly so other people can get past.

Lol you probably one of the ones who never gets out of the way, then.

Yep I run a lot and most pavements if both of us moved to one side we’d get passed each other with no issues at all. But 100% of the time I have to jump into the road or slam myself against a wall. Most of the time it’s families walking 4 abreast or mothers with prams walking in a group

Sometimes if I'm in a mood I deliberately tense up for maximun impact, fucking swines

I stick to my side & don't scrunch up as they're coming towards me. If anything I make myself look bigger!

If they don't move I just stop & if they bump me they get evils or, if I think I won't get a whack, "Twat" growled at them....

Yip. Arrogant students in my small city. Passed three today and one of them was standing with his hands on his hips as well, further blocking the path. They're full of themselves, but their manners make them look as though they've been dragged up. Their parents should be ashamed.

Yes...not just walking on pavements but everywhere. People standing in the middle of supermarket aisles without leaving enough room to go round either side of them with a trolley. Likewise people who bimble up aisles, can see you looking at a shelf, and stand RIGHT IN FRONT OF YOU to browse even though they can see you because you're right there. Also people who decline to use roads sensibly and don't stop at an obvious passing place when they see another car coming down a narrow road, or barge on through past parked cars when it's not their right of way and traffic is coming on towards them. People have no patience.

I have been mowed down by cyclists coming round corners on the pavement twice now. Until I lost my eyesight I was a lifelong cyclist and never felt the need to ride on the pavement.

That's correct, I was also taught that as a child.
I was also taught that it was extremely rude for a group of people walking together to spread out across the entire width of the pavement- it's amazing how often I see this these days and is actually dangerous alongside a busy road.

Agreed. Very wearisome and unnecessary.

Same.

It helps if, just before they pass, you nonchalantly scratch your nose or something that puts your elbow right in their faces. They suddenly notice you're there and move pretty quick!

I also think culture change.

Pretty sure this is a disease that affects every culture.

This. In my town the paths are very narrow and there are often people with not one but two dogs in the paths around the high street or at the market when it’s super crowded.

I think the politeness of letting someone pass is fairly unique to Britain or those with British mannerisms. But seems to be eroding away amongst all people now.

I will happily walk around anyone who I think needs to continue on their way in a straight, unimpeded line- this includes people who have children with them, pram-pushers, older people, wheelchair-users, dog-walkers- even runners since my last attempts at doing the couch to 5k and remember feeling aghast at the extra effort I was required to expend going round people 😆

I will not, however, walk around couples who are just so in love that they can't stop holding hands for two seconds, or large groups of teenagers/adults who think that I should give way to them. For those people I stride purposefully towards them and if they don't seem to be making the effort to go single file I'll just stop dead. (It helps, I think, that I do a fine line in Resting Bitch Face).

Seems to work fairly well.

I used to be really good at moving over for people. Now I just think fuck it and make them move. The worst ones around my way are the mum friends (who absolutely must walk side by side and give you the most evil of looks when you don’t evaporate out of the way) and the pavement cyclists. Walking DS to nursery is like walking the track at Brands Hatch during an F1 race. Bloody school kids fly up behind you, ringing their stupid bells, squeezing through the narrowest gaps. I’m walking with a toddler on a busy main road during school run, where exactly am I going to go? And don’t get me started on the e scooters, they’re just as bad.

This was so bad during covid would you believe!! Noone wanted to side step, kept walking in twos & threes.. Used feel invisible on my daily walk. Drives me fucking nuts. You're not imagining it!

I come across the odd pavement hogger, but in the main I find people quite respectful if they are walking in groups, they tend to have an awareness of who is approaching and rearrange themselves to let you through. Groups of French teenagers in Rome didn't get the memo though. My polite husband was shoulder slamming them he was getting so irked with their bad manners.

Mobile phone gazers are an increasing issue though. The worse ones are men who deliberately shoulder slam. I have had male joggers deliberately come across to me from a wide pavement to slam into me. I assume they hate women and they see this as a way of inflicting hurt and could claim it as an accident. If you ever see that incident on Putney Bridge, you will know what I mean. Not happened since covid.

Hell is other people.

So annoying and extremely rude!!
A few years ago I was pushing dd in the pram a newborn at the time and as I approached these ladies chatting on the pavement I stopped thinking they would move out the way for me but no!!! One of them glanced at me and carried on her conversation I on the other hand had to go on the road to get around them and back up on the pavement 🤬
So sorry I didn't say something now
Now I find it in the supermarket all the time with people chatting completely blocking an aisle and I stand there with a trolley waiting for them to move in so I can get by only to be ignored and being the fool I am I end up going down another aisle to get around the aisle that was blocked the other end!!!

I was in Disneyland towards the end of last year, it wasn’t hugely crowded and people tended to walk to one side so crowds flowed well.
I noticed a pattern of people with buggies who would get fed up of flowing the flow and try and overtake it by swerving into anyone oncoming and expecting them to scatter. I didn’t move.
I opted for the ‘stop dead and smile’ approach, which in most cases resulted in flustered buggy pusher and even the odd apology. The expectation that half of a theme park would dart out of their way because they had buggies was amazing and totally wrong footed them when they didn’t.

Not noticed it so much over here, but walking in crowds isn’t something I do often so I don’t doubt it can be as bad.

yes its annoying,
i hate it when theres a group of people, walking slowly side by side taking up the whole pavement, i usually overtake them by walking faster..

i also hate that stupid left right dance we have to do,
and when people stop unexpectedly in front of you too..
some people are just inconsiderate, some are aloof ..

i always give mums with buggys or kids "right of way" , also give a pass to older people, people carrying bags..
basically whenever it makes sense , i move out of the way

people with dogs i always try to cross the road now, after an incident with an aggressive little local dog who has taken a disliking for me, and tried to bite my leg because i walked passed it...

I'm sick of people not just expecting me, but telling me, to move onto a road or off a country path onto the grass, with a pram and a toddler.