Over the last few months I’ve found I’ve rarely gone for a walk each day, other than days wen I’m working in the office, when I’ve tried to make a point of getting out the office for some fresh-air and a walk, at lunch time.
So now it’s lighter at night, I’ve had no excuse not to get back out for a daily walk, even after I finish work. It’s good to get some fresh-air and some (much needed) exercise again, so while I have to force myself to go for a walk, I’ve found it good once I actually ‘get out there’.
Last weekend the weather was very good for this time of year, dry, bright, sunny and warm, so I was keen to go for a nice long walk on both Saturday and Sunday. Well I experienced two similar situations on both days which enforced my belief that children and young people seem even more oblivious and ignorant towards other people.
On both days I was walking reasonably briskly on the pavement – There were a quite a few other people out for a walk too, probably because the weather was so pleasant. On the first day there was a family of 4 plus a dog coming towards me – The youngest child, probably about 7 or 8 years old was on a scooter a few meters ahead of the rest of the family. The child stopped and turned to speak to his family, so I carried on walking forward but moved to the left so I could get around them. Just as I did this the child on the scooter started to move forward again straight towards me – he looked at me and just kept going! I had to quickly step to the side again so he didn’t run straight into me! Did the parents do or say anything to the child or to me? No they didn’t! Did they not see their son head straight for me, and me having to take a sidestep to avoid him running into me?
The next day was similar – again I was walking briskly along the pavement when I was aware there was a boy about 10 or 11 on a bike, followed a couple of feet behind him by what I assume was his mother, on another bike, riding along the pavement – I should point out this wasn’t some wide pavement, it was what I would call an average width pavement where there was room for someone walking and someone on a bike to pass one another but not a lot of additional space – so this boy is riding along the middle of the pavement meaning there was not enough space for anyone to walk passed them without taking avoiding action…and that’s exactly what happened – The boy on the bike kept riding up the middle of the pavement, so myself and another pedestrian who was a few meters behind me, had to move into a driveway of a house just to avoid being hit by the boy on the bike! This time though, the mother did apologise as she passed us (she left us room to pass).
Do these kids not learn to show consideration to others any more? I was always taught to give other pedestrians space, particularly if I was on my bike, and certainly would have been told off if I’d not been considerate towards other pavement users!
Anyway, I did enjoy my walks in the warmer weather, though come Monday it was back to being an icy breeze again so was a bit of a cold walk at Monday lunch-time again.
I can’t wait for the warmer, and hopefully drier weather again, it make it a little easier to convince myself to go out and get some exercise.
The Distinct Dot 