… but most people walk too damn slowly. On this campus in particular, the number who amble aimlessly is epidemic. I ought to teach a class called “Purposeful Striding 1A.”
… but most people walk too damn slowly. On this campus in particular, the number who amble aimlessly is epidemic. I ought to teach a class called “Purposeful Striding 1A.”
I agree with you 100%. I figured I wasn’t going to win that battle, so I learned to walk slower.
Now we have the folks who stand in doorways, hallways, and stairways.
Lately I’ve come across more 5 foot 90 pound aimless walkers, god bless them, trying to take on my 6’ 2†285 pound frame. I don’t know what to do here, some of the time I don’t even see them coming—splat. Other times I tire of doing a floor routine just to walk a straight line. I’ve been guilty of being distracted and continuing that straight path—splat.
Some kind of synchronocity goin’ on here. I was also going to suggest a course series on standing around.
Standing 101: Doors
Standing 102: Hallways
Standing 201: Staircases
Standing 300: Advanced Standing: Principles of human traffic flow
Standing 400: Advanced Standing II: General respect for the needs of others to get somewhere
Lead, follow, or out of my way has always been a rule of mine. Nothing is more annoying to me than a bunch of people deciding to use a walkway as a place to hold a Coffee Klatsch.
Go to the cafeteria and yak, ye blatherskites.
I can see that this is going to be a popular class of mine.
To be fair, you have longer legs than most of us! While I usually walk with a clear destination in mind, you’d probably consider this 5’3 girl a slow poke.
It was snowing today and I still think people should have been considerate enough to walk a proper speed (i.e., faster).
Slow isn’t the problem so much Mermade, as people who block the halls in packs while chatting, or slow walkers who take their half out of the middle when walking down an aisle.
We walk a lot faster on the east coast, FYI
I know it, Katie; I’m always very happy on the streets of Manhattan.
Yes, thank you. I’m sick of all you strollers and amblers out there, especially the ones I invariably get stuck behind in the grocery store these days. Move it along, ya slackers! I got things to do!
whatever happened to enjoying the travel portion of the trip instead of aiming–or striving for in this case–for the destination?
p/s.: i can only see your class creating a rift between students on campus and ultimately divide the student body in two. the Strider’s would single out and scoff at the Moseys. sigh.
Moseying has its place, I suppose.
But I do everything on a dead run. When I was teaching in Florence, I led students on a tour of the Uffizi. Twenty minutes, baby, and we were all done and in the coffee shop.
I can smell the flowers while I sweat.
Twenty minutes for the whole Uffizi? You just made this art history major cry.
(There are times when I employ the “don’t stop moving” approach to exhibits, and it’s not a bad way to take in art necessarily, but it’s definitely not something I would do with a once-in-a-blue-moon chance to see one of the greatest museums in the world!)
Moseying is nothing compared to the folks who stand still in the middle of a crosswalk or on the stairs to the subway, to talk on their cell phones!
Aimless wandering is not epidemic – it is pandemic.
Like Hugo, I do everything at a dead run while living in a world populated by individuals who seem incapable of walking faster than a 3 year old.
My pet peeve this week: People who step through the door of a business and come to a complete and sudden halt while they a) search their purse/wallet/pockets/backpack for some mysterious object b) yammer on their phones c) stare blankly at the merchandise d) wonder aloud what they came to buy. I mowed down a grandmother inside Costco yesterday who engaged in a) and b).
My sister – who is built like a linebacker – is fun to follow through crowds. She squares her shoulders, and walks in a straight line. It’s kind of fun watching people bouncing off her like pinballs.
After my griping, I’d like to also come to the defense of moseying – it does have its place.
- Along the edges of hallways and busy sidewalks- slower traffic keep right
- Along the beach at sunset
- In the park in springtime
You’re hyperactive with a high metabolism, Hugo. Just like I used to be. Ten years from now, you’ll have a couple kids and an extra 25 pounds, and you’ll slow down. I’ve slowed to the point where I don’t even walk unless absolutely necessary, although in my case it is arthritis, not age or kids that did it.
BTW, roses smell better when you stop and stuff your nose in them. Same with lilacs. Every spring I like to track down some lilac bushes, gather a bunch of the blossoms together, bury my face in them, and inhale slowly. Really hard to do while speed walking.
Heh, Glendon. You’d love to be behind me. I’ve been told I plow through crowds like a hound dog chasing a rabbit through the high grass.
Gonzman – I’d like to see that!
I’m an ambler, but I live in New Mexico, where there’s never much of a hurry to get anywhere.
The exception being when I’m trying to get to class, of course. One of the buildings I teach in feels more like the corridors of a high-school building than part of a college campus — there’s people hanging out in big clumps in the middle of the hall, people on their phones, people making out, which makes it hard to get anywhere. No wonder people have a hard time getting to class on time. Situational awareness, people!
I am a decided ambler, though not the slowest among them. I also tend to stop in awkward spots trying to find something or affix some portion of my outerwear to the appropriate body part, but I do try to keep out of the way and aware of other people. (I’m still fairly terrible at it.) And I still despise groups who take up an entire sidewalk, whether while walking or at a standstill. (And, though this isn’t really related, people who stop their cars on top of the crosswalk instead of behind it.) I’m also 5’2″, so I’ve paid for my slowness and lack of awareness with plenty of bumps and knocks.