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August 17, 2004
City Sprawl
Let it be known that the author is stuck in DAY #2 of MS Access Training Torture. And sitting inside for 8 hours with a tech geek trainer is far more difficult when it is sunny out.
Question of the Day
The average city sidewalk is about ten feet wide, give or take (I could be way off on this, but let's just assume). The average city dweller might need a maximum of four feet for maneuvering. Four feet is a lot, people, but still, that leaves at least six more feet for others to walk side by side with the individual, or perhaps pass them.
So how, on any given day, does that one person, regardless of their girth, manage to take up the ENTIRE sidewalk? You know the type I'm talking about. You move right to try and pass, they meander to the right. You jet left, they lean into their cell phone and graze sideways. You get up the courage to brush past them, they stop dead in their tracks to look at something. It is unbelievable. How on earth can one get stuck behind a barely 5' tall, waiflike Asian woman for ten minutes, unable to pass? Explain it to me, please.
The world offers so many questions, yet so little answers.
Posted by callalillie at August 17, 2004 8:58 AM | City Life
It boggles the mind. In my neighborhood it is the infuriating family of 10 that walk together around the ridiculously small grocery store. They appear in every aisle that you are trying to navigate. The father (with the permanent crazed look), the mother (who is actually shopping) and seven (screaming) kids in serious need of Ritalin. All behind a huge stroller with one (screaming) infant. Either you give up or eventually find everything you are looking despite they're best efforts. When you go to the express checkout lane they are already in line with every member of their family and are trying to pay for an entire cart of groceries in the express lane.
Posted by: ccs178 (Chris) at August 17, 2004 12:07 PM
my favorite is when families like that park their cart in the middle of an aisle. the kids swarm around it and you either need to climb the shelves to get past or walk all the way around-- only to find that they have moved and parked their cart in the next aisle that you were moving toward. that used to happen a lot in our local LI supermarket. i think that's why they started making mega-markets and widening the aisles.
Posted by: corie at August 17, 2004 12:59 PM
i blame half of it on the proliferation of cell phones--esp. when people decide to talk while they walk. don't even get me started on those people who stop on the middle of the stairs to the subway (during rush hour!) just because their phone rings.
Posted by: hy at August 17, 2004 1:18 PM
I've flat out said to some people get off the fucking phone and walk. So much for being shy and demure.
Posted by: corie at August 17, 2004 2:43 PM
I think born and bred city people know that they should walk on the right--a simple principle that I was taught as a kid and that solves *all* pedestrian problems. But I think that when people grow up in car-dominated suburbs, their pedestrian skills erode. That--and cell phones.
Posted by: Francis Morrone at August 17, 2004 7:50 PM
My father always taught me, especially during my early years visits to the city, to always step to the right when someone was approaching. I think of that often when the person opposite me either plows right into my body or steps to the left, distracted by their ipod.
Posted by: corie at August 17, 2004 8:11 PM
Can I also get a shout-out for the people who arrive at the subway station and then fan out to block access to all turnstiles while they search all their pockets for their MetroCards?
Consideration for the people around you: it's just not the New York way.
Posted by: Mollie at August 17, 2004 11:55 PM
I love the people who, so desperate to get a seat on the subway, block the doors so you cannot get off the train; they rush onto the train before your brain tells your legs to move off the train. I like to plow through them and yell out, "let us off the train first, jackass."
Posted by: Nick at August 18, 2004 9:57 AM
