06-27-2019, 06:23 PM
pdq wrote:
I'm a fairly tall man, and in addition to the aimless perambulators that MAVIC describes, us folks also have to deal with the social discomfort of inevitably catching up to shorter people, usually women.
I understand the sensation of someone approaching you from behind may be semi-alarming, but I just thought I would take this opportunity to say it's not any fun for us either. Yes, we can plod along at your pace, but then it feels like we're stalking you.
I dunno. Maybe we should all wear little rear-view mirrors.
Edit: Also, when you slow walkers suddenly realize someone's catching up to you and you jerk your head around in alarm, should we look at you? Stare straight ahead? Pretend we're distracted by something across the street? I know - we should probably excuse ourselves in a friendly way (for what?), but that's asking a lot for some of us scandihoovians.
I’ve been on a couple of the many sides of this coin.
When I was the tall, fast walker, I had two MOs. One, the first in line, was to think about if I was really in a hurry. There were a lot of times when I was just motoring because that was my default mode. I learned to take advantage of the times I wasn’t and adjust my gait and my attitude to ‘smell the roses’ speed. I enjoyed it.
The other, if I really did need to hurry, was to do it in a semi-obtrusive way, so that I could be heard coming, even by the distracted, and (apparently) paying absolutely no attention to those I was passing. No stalker or mugger here! Just another overwrought pedestrian in the rat race. Nothing to see. Nothing to be afraid of.
Later, after a disability that wandered from limp to cane to walker back to cane again, I’ve tried to be slow but steady at its worst — I wasn’t going to be able to scurry out of the way, but you could get around me without (too much) fear of zig or zag — to picking up the pace at least half a notch if I could, at least long enough to clear a eider berth for the hurried.
I’ll note that for some, ‘steady’ presents no small challenge. The distraction of pain, concentrating on balance, stiff joints and other distractions can increase the challenge. Sometimes you have to get to where you have to get to, and walking’s the way it has to be done. And no, ‘Just get a wheelchair then’ is not the answer. That brings with it a whole new load of problems of its own; cost, accommodation, etc.
My only militant stance as a slow(er) walker, is that you’re not going to find me hugging buildings as if I have absolutely no right to the sidewalks. In a civil society we make reasonable accommodations for the abilities and disabilities of our fellow travelers.
In this vein, I will present as little obstruction as I reasonably can, but moving about can be a difficult, painful and frustrating task at times, so I won’t be adding on weaving across the tide of other pedestrians to hug a wall, and then back again to cross the street, or get to the curb to board a vehicle or other business. The sidewalks are shared pathways, not a race track only for the fully able bodied.