The best way of describing this is... very bad tapdancing.
I'm walking down the street minding my own beeswax, when along comes someone walking straight as a dye towards me. I move left to avoid them and they match me. I move right, they match that while matching the stupid grin I keep for these occasions. This goes on for however long it takes us to wing each other and apologise on the hoof. Ten seconds later I'm steered into the next foot fandango.
After the first couple of moves into such a 'two step', I will sometimes stop dead in my tracks, ending the dance and forcing the oncoming person to go around me like a stream rolls past a rock. Disruptive to the flow I admit, but it ends the matchup decisively. Best done indoors or away from busy sidewalks.
Another favourite is to feign distraction - look away - works as long as the other guy is looking.
Regarding my first response - am I breaking some sort of pedestrian code ?
Confabulous, you stupid boy (or girl) (or sheep) (or whatever)
Do you have an ipod or similar contraption for playing popular music? If so, then each time you plan to leave your haven to venture onto the public highways or footways, play the Verve (or fat Les 'vindaloo') and simply smack into every person/obstacle in your way.
I do it all the time, and it's great fun on Wednesdays when the pensioners have just received their giros and are trying to cash them in for bingo money!!
It happens to me all the time, and I am clueless as to why. I'm 6 feet 5 inches tall and weigh 225 pounds.
People constantly walk into me, I also sometimes stop and if I am with someone I'll usually muse out loud, "What? Am I invisible?"
I really love it in London. I start out walking on the left side side of the sidewalk (pavement) because one drives on the left in the UK, then there is a mass of people coming toward me walking on the right side. So I move to the right side, and, you guessed it. So now I just walk in the middle.
Now in China they aim at you, no kidding. One time I was in the Forbidden City and I had passed through this arch and stepped to the side to take a picture. Apparently this elderly Chinaman wanted to go the same way. I was in his way and he shoved me. Of course he didn't budge me and I looked way down at him (he was about 5 feet tall and weighted 100 pounds soaking wet) and said,
"You really don't me to shove back do you?"
I don't know if he understood English or not, but he walked around me.
(Not that I would have shoved him, I was raised better than that.)
The answer is extremely simple. You fix it before it gets to the stage where you are both "dancing" while trying to get past each other. As you approach and it becomes obvious that you are both on the same track, watch their eyes. Their eyes will look to either the left or right and whichever direction the eyes look, the body will follow. This allows you to make your own gentle course correction and the "dancing" problem never arises. Never fails.
Funny animals, people. I'm 6'1" and 115kg, but in the supermarket I appear to be invisible. Folk pull out in front of me without looking or signalling, or amble along at a snail's pace in the middle of the aisle with their trolley somehow diagonally across it....if I could duplicate such unnoticability in the bank, I'd be in clover
It should have said "hear it and see it here,... again, and again, and again, and again, and again, and again, and again, and again, and again, and again, and again, and again, and again, etc, etc, etc".
I have developed a method of moving through crowds quickly that doesnt involve eating my bodyweight in pickled eggs or using sunflower oil as shampoo.
I used to walk for around 80 minutes a day in London when I worked in the city and in various busy places I've walked around in all different countries it seems to have the same effect.
You just stare straight ahead, head held high, walk fast and make eye contact with no-one. People assume you haven't seen them so you're unlikely to move for you, so they move out of your way.
'Six's Stroppy Strut'
The other option is to walk close to shop windows as people tend to walk a little away from them for some reason. Although this only works when the shops are closed!
