All entries for Thursday 26 October 2006

Excuse me, YOU´RE IN MY WAY!

Maybe it´s just a cold northern, efficient, doesn´t-know-how-to-take-it-easy kind of trait of mine, but ever since I got back from London and Kiev, I started to notice just how many times people stand in my way in Catalunya.

Example one. I just walked out of the train and now want to leave the platform. I´m late because I had to meet my friends 15 mins ago so I´d like to get out as quickly as possible. On the escalators, everybody is all over the place. Unlike other cities, where people stand to the side to let people like me pass.

Example two. I´m walking through a university corridor, in what seems to me a normal speed, and suddenly, right in front of me, a girl just stands still. I nearly bump into her. (Repeat about 10 times a day and you´ll start to get the idea.)

Example three. Walking out of the library, I nearly blast into a worker who carries a big pipe of some kind. He walks in a kind of curve, so I want to pass him. (Ok, fair enough, I´m always in a hurry.) But just when I try to pass, the guy, who doesn´t seem to be looking left, right, or at all, turns to the right again, straight into my space, so that I have to stand still for a moment not to bump into him.

Example four. A mass of people in the centre of the city, it´s busiest street, blocking an entire sidewalk.

Example five. I´m walking on a sidewalk, alone. From the other direction come three people, in a row. I get pushed off the sidewalk because none of them steps aside.

And on goes the list… And this is just the score of a week. Aargh! I don´t want to be the stereotype of a northerner at all. But can´t people just look around them to see what´s happening?!

: 26 Oct 2006 16:58 |  Tags: 2006 Defining Catalans English |  Comments (8) |  Close comments |  Report a problem