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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

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Original poster

to think that if you are walking down the street with DC...

44 replies

VengefulSinner · 09/11/2009 20:16

...and someone is coming toward you that they should also respectfully move to the side so that you can all pass each other rather than force you and sometimes even DC to have to step into the road?

Profanities coming...

I am so fucking pissed off with just how rude some people are and how inconsiderate they are of children and their safety!

The amount of times that ds and I have been walking on the pavement and someone/a group walk toward us, and they make sure they keep walking the line they are walking rather than make room!!!

And I don't mean as in stop or walk in the road to make way for us, I mean take a step to the side and carry on walking forward just as ds and I do so that we can all pass by. The pavement has more than adequate space to accommodate us all! I even put ds in front whilst holding his hand still and dodging his ankles ending up in me doing a strange waddle so that I am also not taking the piss...

But no.

They leave a huge fucking chunk of pavement to the side of them and I end up walking in the road and on occasion DS (5) has ended up stepping into the road too!!!! It makes me fume!

And before anyone says "why don't you walk in the huge fucking chunk of pavement left" - it is still not large enough for ds and I to get through side by side and it would also incur a slalom effort of manouvering that a skier would be proud of!

I have never said anything directly as tbh the person is fleeting by, but I have on occasion made comments about how rude some people are to make a child walk in the road and now I make sure that ds and I stick to the wall and do not move forcing said person to step around us. But the filthy looks we get for doing it!!!

Does anyone else experience this?!

OP posts:

ABetaDad · 10/11/2009 10:32

Totally agree. Our DS1 (age 9) says that he feels adults just try and walk through him sometmes and he ends up trying to dodge them like he does not exist.

hobbgoblin · 10/11/2009 10:33

A woman tripped over my pram the other day and nearly landed in DD's face. She gave me such an awful look and I was so furious with her. She was coming out of M&S and I was walking along the street so effectively was my 'right of way' if you can imagine. She was a total Per Una chick.

Anyway I looked at her and she screwed her fat little face up at me. So I said "I expect you are waiting for my apology as I am yours, as it was YOUR fault"

She then started saying fuck and fuck off a lot which was most surreal as, like I say, she was Per Una personified.

I put on my poshest dialect and said "good gracious, thank HEAVENS my DD is not yet old enough to comprehend your FILTHY language". I felt right condescending I did.

BiscuitFace · 10/11/2009 10:36

mn is full of crazed woman atm. honestly, try some meditation or go to your gp.

Stayingsunnygirl · 10/11/2009 10:37

Once, whilst walking the dses home from school with my friend and her ds, we met a local blind lady coming the other way, on the arm of her friend. We all moved to the edge of the pavement so that we and they could walk past eachother.

As we passed them, I heard her say to the woman who was guiding her, "They should get onto the road and get out of my way" - or words to that effect. This wasn't unusual either - she honestly believed that she should have the whole pavement to herself. I was furious, as I thought we had behaved perfectly politely, and the children deserved thanking for having good manners, not to be told that they should be in the gutter!

hobbgoblin · 10/11/2009 10:39

Why so? I posted about the wonderful helpful attitude of Londoners recently when I took pram on the Tube.

It's not unreasonable to be cross about other people's self serving and inconsiderate behaviour at times.

PlumpRumpSoggyBaps · 10/11/2009 11:31

I think most people are polite- but that's why the few that aren't stand out so much and make us so annoyed.

nickelbabe · 10/11/2009 11:38

i am going to teach all of my children to say in a loud voice "mummy, why don't the other people on the pavement walk in single file so that we can all get past?"

that should do it.

Tidey · 10/11/2009 11:43

Goodness, hobbgoblin, I nearly cheered out loud reading your M&S woman post Nice work! I hate the way people barge in front of prams and pushchairs, as though people with babies/toddlers don't exist or deserve any respect.

Stayingsunnygirl · 10/11/2009 11:51

I remember that attitude to prams/pushchairs too, Tidey and hobgoblin. I used to fantasise about fixing blades to my buggy wheels, a la Boudicea, to deal with the problem once and for all!

MamaVoo · 10/11/2009 12:54

Where I live it's the old people who barge past rudely, the teenagers are quite polite.

oldraver · 10/11/2009 17:06

I tend to be quite nippy when walking on my own or with the puschair, especially when out in shopping centres so dont mind going round people then as I realise that some people are walking slower than me. So I think I am being courteous and not bugging people so I expect in return when I am out walking with my small DS that two grown women stomping two abreast shouldn't attempt to barge me out of the way. It would of been much easier for one of said women to step aside than for me to have had to grab my DC out of the way. I saw these two woman several times walking around town mostly texting and just not seemingly aware of anything around them. After having the screeching woman the other week I think it safer to stay in

That said I too find the teens round here quite polite, on our walk from school they always seem to jump out of the way before you can

zebramummy · 10/11/2009 20:15

haha prams and pushchairs - the first time i ever experienced a pavement war was when i took ds (as a newborn) out in a swanky new 3-wheeler - there was a woman coming the other way with a really tatty stroller with a friend - they made a ridiculous loud comment along the lines of 'she should not be allowed to walk out at this time with a pushchair of that size' - so much for new mothers being nice to each other (or is that another thread?)

NeedaNewName · 10/11/2009 20:24

The things that rile me is when someone is walking faster than you and pass you (no problem there) but once they pass you they then step right in front of you with no warning then slow down! And not because there are other people all around you - the pavement is free and clear, we are the only 2 people there on a wide path!

They then get all huffy cos you bump into them.

Oh dear, I can feel the anger again - need to go and calm down!!!!!

Original poster

VengefulSinner · 10/11/2009 20:30

Oh don't even get me started on prams and buggies driven by self-involved rude impatient mothers Grrr....

The amount of times I have nearly had the skin shaven off my ankles by buggy wheels!

Gosh, I really am quite an angry person

OP posts:

VoidofDiscovery · 10/11/2009 20:33

Oooh, I remember it well, best one was when I as walking with DD & Ds was in pram keeping very close to the wall to give people lots of room to pass, did the keep going head down with one particular 'lady' would didn't try to go pass, so I stopped, waited (in no particular hurry as usual), looked . She then pushed pass between the pram & the wall, a gap of about 3 inches, nearly knocked it over. FFs, even now it makes my blood boil.

EyeballsintheSky · 10/11/2009 20:40

Agree with the no eye contact thing. I experiment with it if I'm walking and bored. If you look like you're not looking where you're going people coming towards you will part like the Red Sea

Toffeepopple · 10/11/2009 20:54

I have twice had old people moan at me for walking into them with my pram. Both times I have been stationary!

Don't know if it is a new thing though. When I was a teenager an old man moaned at me for not giving him my seat on the train. Fair enough, except that:
(1) I had a bandaged up sprained ankle
(2) There was absolutely no-one else in the entire carriage

JjandtheBean · 10/11/2009 22:06

Void i think she searches for doubles and does that ive come across one lady a handfull of times now and she ALWAYS takes the small gap NO matter which side i veer too, even tried saying loudly to passing pcso i made her walk in the road to which they replied, to me, ignore her dear and carry on!

BritFish · 15/01/2010 01:47

i find teenagers the best group to be walking past to be honest! maybe we've got some wierdo's around here or i just look fierce!
the rude ones tend to be mothers with buggys.
but not mothers with small children walking with them, and we live close to the main primary. they're always polite and smile.
its old ladies who get my back up. grrrr.
whoever you are, no matter what you're doing, you should make room for someone to walk past, and expect the same in return! if there is someone walking towards me, i would expect both of us to make the effort to move out of each other's way!
sigh. i wish. i'll go back to grumpily, sarkily shouting 'EXCUSE ME!' when perfectly able old women push past.

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