How to walk during a pandemic

in #covid-194 years ago

Yes, this post is about as stilted as things get, but with good reasons.

When I go outdoors I come across some issues with other people. Mainly, these are:

  • joggers
  • other people on phones

I would normally add bicyclists but somehow they seem to have either vanished from my path or stopped riding on pavements.

The two categories of people that I've listed don't give a toss: joggers run a maximum of 0.5 meters away from me, huffing and coughing as they do, and people on phones are idiots, always.

When I meet these people while walking, they're close to the center of a pavement or dirt road; they won't stay to the right, which is the normal rule in Swedish road-side laws.

What usually happens, is that I have to veer far to the right of

While brushing my teeth this morning, I came up with a solution:

Walk towards them.

I actually didn't think it'd be that easy so I tried it out.

A person (sans phone) walked towards me, in the middle of the pavement where I was also walking, and I slowly veered towards the middle while trying to make eye contact.

As we made our way closer to each other, the person noticed me, started walking to their right-hand side of the pavement, and, once they had reached the side, I walked to my right-hand side of the pavement.

Problem solved.

I tried this with the next person I met (who was walking in the middle of the road): success.

I feel like I've invented the wheel (and I know I've not). This may very well seem silly to a lot of people, and I understand that, but walking this way helps others. I truly believe this.

This is, in essence, good for people I meet, for myself, and for people who I'd otherwise risk infecting with COVID-19.

I just wish people would mind others a bit more. I'm not trying to say that I'm continuously mindful of others, but there's a notable difference between consciously not trying to infect others while going to shop for food and blatantly not giving a fuck about anybody.



Posted from my blog with SteemPress : https://niklasblog.com/?p=25568