An American Worker in London
Friday, March 05, 2004
Crowded Sidewalks
I am learning to be very pushy around here. Not only are the underground stations and the trains crowded beyond capacity, the sidewalks near bus stops are about the same.
There is one bus stop across the street from the hotel, on my way to the office. Every morning on the way to the office I pass by this bus stop, and I have to push my way through the people lined up across the sidewalk.
In this section of the city, the sidewalk is about 8 or 9 feet wide. The bus stop shelter takes about half of that, and many people crowd into it, especially on rainy or cold days. No problem there, since they aren't in the way for those of us trying to walk along the sidewalk.
What bugs me is the group of individuals who stand in the area between the bus stop and the street. Most of the time, I will find them standing fully across the sidewalk, completely blocking access for through walkers like me.
There are several options: (1) Step into the street to go around them, (2) Say "excuse me" and push through, (3) say nothing and push through just the same.
When I first got here, I always selected option 2. I figured being polite was important. But after several months I have come to realize that no one cares. They won't move in either case, so now I have resolved myself to option 3, just pushing through without warning, sometimes muttering "sorry" as I bump them with my rucksack, a heavy one at that. The strangest thing is that I am now accustomed to butt my way through the crowds like the best of them, moving forward at one speed, making little eye contact, and very rarely acknowledging that I have even been there.
The same thing occurs at the same bus stop when I am returning to the hotel during evening rush hour. Everyone steps out to the curb so they can see whether or not the bus is coming (as if you could miss a red double decker from further back on the sidewalk). There is often a crowd of 15 or 20 people there, all massed up into a small crowd, and I am supposed to walk through there. I've found that the best approach is to put my head down, lean forward, walk faster, and not even budge from my selected path. People get out of my way, kind of like Moses parting the water, but with far less spiritual implications. At least in this direction I am facing the people waiting for the buses so I have a better chance of announcing my intentions by my head-down, intensive, purposeful pace. This works much better than bumping into them from behind.
All the same, the crowds are something to be contended with, and I am trying to adapt. Without being overtly rude or getting beat up by a gang of yobs. It's worked so far.
