The set up
It is a Thursday evening and I’m on the train from Liverpool Street back to Hertord. I’ve got music on and I am typing this on my mobile while waiting for the train to start its journey back home. It is almost the end of my second week of joining the Commuters’ to London Club. This means that I’m no longer in charge of transporting myself to and from work but relying on the efficiency of Greater Anglia. So far so good. I haven’t had any major incidents, so I’ve been really lucky in my induction. I am prepared though for tough times to come, as it is inevitable for things to run smoothly all the time. For the moment though I’m grateful for the smoothness.
I’m taking advantage therefore, of the free time while being chauffeured by train, to write about my walking to work in London adventures.
New walking skills
As an occasional visitor in London mostly during weekends for pleasure, I’ve mostly avoided walking in the rush hour. Even when I came in at rush hour for work, as it was not on a daily basis, my interaction with Londoners in the rush hour was quite limited.
During weekends my walks also tended to steer away from big roads or cycling paths, so you can definitely say I have been a verified country bumpkin! Mind you, I was used to big city life when I was back home in Athens but after 13 years of being away from that life, based in the quieter more country-life of Hertfordshire, I have lost my skills of walking-in-town tactics and behaviour.
It is no surprise then that in the last two weeks since I started my new job at Queen Mary University London, I found myself feeling the need to acquire new skills in walking. The good news is that every day I’m doing over a mile’s worth of walking on my route to and from home, towards the train stations, up and down the tube, as far as the university. This is wonderful news as it keeps me up to speed with my beloved walking and I don’t miss out on the exercise if I can’t walk during my lunch break.
Although I am an experienced country walker, new walking skills are necessary for London, in order to deal with different types of fellow walkers – the “hurriers” and the “all-over-placers” – as well as coping with big city roads.
The Hurriers
Walking in London during rush hour on a daily basis is tricky. Everybody is in an extreme hurry as if they’ve just heard that their house is on fire or that the end of the world has come, and they are running in super speed to see their loved ones for one last time. Even though the “hurriers” probably do the same route every day it seems it has not occurred to them to leave 5 minutes earlier and avoid being late for wherever there is they have to be, allowing themselves to walk in a normal speed. These are the tough ones to deal with as you cannot cut through them no matter what.
Clearly, I do have that buffer in my timings, so I tend to walk in an agile yet not rushed speed. I must admit that the fact that I’m mostly following the flow is a great advantage. It is when you dare to break free and go against the flow that manoeuvre tactics need to come in place!!! Timing is of essence down to the very milliseconds if you wish to cut through.
Accepting to walk with the flow in such crowded surroundings will be a great disapproval to my mother, who raised her daughter to be a real princess and avoid public transport especially during rush hour. I do hope though that she might let me get away with this one as part of living in London.
The All-over-the-placers
This type of walkers are completely oblivious to the world around them because they are fixated to their mobile phone screen. These are dangerous because they are unpredictable as to which direction they are going to take or the pace they will have. Similar to playing chess, a strategy needs to be in place to manage walking around these ones. Strategy includes evasive tactics, when they walk from left to right due to lack of sense of direction as they are looking at their mobile screen, and anticipation of whether they might head from left to right or right to left or just stop all of a sudden as if thunder has stricken them (checkmate move). I think with these ones if spotted early enough, keep your distance or overtake them as soon as possible is the trick to managing them!
Big roads
Another skill that you need when walking along big roads with cycling lanes is avoiding walking too close to the cycling lane unless you have suicidal tensions. Cyclists are equally mad people in a rush as they are speeding along in a ruthless manner. When you happen to walk close to the cycling lane it feels as if you’re walking next to a high-speed train. Oh, there is a special tip…if you hear a bike bell and you suddenly think why is there a bike behind you on the pavement, don’t panic. It is probably a cyclist on the cycling lane who wants to overtake another cyclist. Just in case though do check because I did have a cyclist behind me on the pavement one day.
With big city roads you should always be mindful of speedy cars and cyclists. They are lords of the roads, so you need to respect this as a pedestrian and watch out to make sure you don’t get run over even if there is a little green man giving you right of passage.
People gazing
Walking in London gives me a chance to see such a variety of people, which for me as I like observing people and faces it is an absolute marvel. Since I am from a generation that has learned through observation rather than through a small screen, walking among so many different people gives me the entertainment I need.
With the extra 5 minutes buffer I give myself to get from A to B on the way back home, I get the chance to stand still at Liverpool Street each day and look at people walking by or waiting for their train announcement like myself. I get to see tourists being lost not knowing which direction to walk to, couples meeting for a first date (Liverpool Street is a very popular hotspot for those), couples walking hand in hand together back from work, individual men and women lost in their own world, thinking of the email they didn’t get a chance to send wondering what’s for dinner and what school news they’ll children will share with them when they get home….
The last two weeks since I started my new job, have given me much happiness, energy and rejuvenation. Like any new love, this is my honeymoon period and I hope it lasts for a very very long time. I want to believe that fairly soon other than succeeding in my new role, I will be able to report back about the effectiveness of building the skills to walk in London with the dexterity of an experienced commuter.
Walks and Smiles 