Walking in New York: The Top 5 Rules of the Walkway

 

Is there a rule books for walking down the street??  If so,  I would love to stand at Grand Central and hand it out to everyone that enters the City.  Perhaps even set up a kiosk at JFK, Newark and LaGuardia as well.  Why? you may ask.  Because people just do not know how to do it.

As Missing Person's so eloquently pointed out, "Nobody Walks in LA." And for that matter I don't think anyone walks in most towns, suburbs, or small cities anymore.  They just don't know the rules!  People need a handbook.  Let's start one today!
The basics of walking the down the street are not unlike that of driving a car, which I know most everyone over the age of 16 does from coast-to-coast.  A fact that makes me scratch my head time and time again when I think about the mindless walking that occurs daily.
Here are some reminders to those that are not use to walking as a function of transportation any more:

1. Every sidewalk has people going 2 different directions at any given time.  Some people are walking up the street while some are walking down the street.  Since we are in the USA where people drive on the right side of the road, lets all assume that you should walk on the right side of the sidewalk where ever you may go... this will help with body checking collisions
2. If you are on a sidewalk that is wide enough to support a walking passing lane as well as the 2 lanes of regular walking traffic, such as: Park Avenue, Fifth Avenue, 42nd Street or 34th Street (just to name a few), slow walkers should keep to the right, while the faster walkers should pass on the left... this will help alleviate the feeling of somebody walking really close to you in hopes you get the hint to move over... or give pick pockets a chance to get your wallet
3. Walking and chatting with friends on a beautiful day is always fun.... until somebody gets body checked.  No really.  Full on, bouncing off another person, throw you back body checked.  Ask anybody that has ever spent more than a month walking around in NY.  Never, ever, EVER, should you walk down the street side by side with more than one other person.  Three is an inconvenience.   Four is an open invitation for on coming walkers to body check either side of your line... and ladies are not excused from the body check... if you insist on walking in a line of 4 people down the sidewalk, you may want to have your girlfriend/wife/co-worker/boss in the middle.
4. When you come to a cross walk, the right of way goes to the person coming off the street - ALWAYS.  You have no idea if they are jumping out of the way of a speeding taxi, a semi truck trying to make a turn, or a raging rat is chasing them.  For everyone's safety, this is the rule. Get out of the way.
5. Small children are exempt from all rules of the walkways.... it's hard enough to be a kid in the City, we need to let them have this one.

Please share this post with anyone you know that may be traveling to New York City as a basic primer and reminder on how to get to where you want to go safe and sound.

Next week... Walking in NYC #2: The Power of Jay Walking

A Visit From Stillness

This week we had a little visitor adorn our front door for most of the day....  

A visitor perched on our front door for hours

At first sight, we jumped back seeing an insect (seemingly from Mars) the size of our hand sitting at eye level on the outside of our home.  Perched on the front door, I immediately was calmed by the absolute stillness this creature exhibited as we walked in and out of the door multiple times, ushering our kids off to school... and taking a few pictures.  While the door moved only a bit every time, I don't think any other animal would have remained perched upside down without moving a limb or wing.

Door Moving, Stillness Remains

This got me to thinking, "What was she doing here??"

I was introduced to the praying mantis when I was 10 years old living in California.  My father bought a couple to release in our yard as a ecological way to help manage other insects. Being an engineer, this was not the type of thing my father was know to do.  He was more likely to bomb the yard with chemicals than find an environment friendly option to a bug problem.

Yet, I was tickled.  The little creatures would hang out in our front walkway, almost welcoming us home after a long day.  Dad showed us that you could even feed them by hand as one of the little guys excepted a small offering from his finger.  I watched the slow and thoughtful movements... especially fascinated as the triangular shaped head could take on the almost human curiosity when studying the offering, and reaching out to grab it.

Then the visits became less frequent until they were no longer there... leaving no forwarding address.

Now decades later, a distant relative has return to my front door in the Northeast.  This is definitely not praying mantis native habitat... perhaps somebody just released a few to help with the tick problem so rampant in this area?  Even still, how did she come to settle on our front door?  And somewhere in the back of my head, I remembered that a sighting at your house was akin to a ladybug landing on your hand... a sign of goodwill to come.

Taking a tour around the internet, I discovered a visit from these Martian like creatures is both a sign of good fortune to come, and a reminder.  There are so many websites that re-quote the same paragraph that I have no way of knowing who to credit, but the saying goes that a visit from our friend tends to come at a time, "when we need peace, quiet and calm in our lives. Usually the mantis makes an appearance when we've flooded our lives with so much business, activity, or chaos that we can no longer hear the still small voice within us because of the external din we've created." (one of the better articles quoting this paragraph: http://www.whats-your-sign.com/animal-symbolism-mantis.html)

What I like the most is the symbolism of calm, balance, creativity, and mindfulness....  reminding us to get still, meditate, go within and find our inner peace. Perhaps that is what where we find the best answers to our questions, which in turn brings more happiness into our lives.... and isn't that what brings good fortune?

Time to pay a visit to +Deepak Chopra  and Oprah at the  +Chopra Center - its been too long! Good thing I have a few mediation saved. Join us if you want to make this visit your good fortune as well.   https://chopracentermeditation.com/

Peace Out.

Ashton Kutcher Speech - Teen Choice Awards (HQ)

I am not sure how I missed this amazing little speech, which is just
perfect for his Teen Choice "Choiciest Award" speech.  If you haven't
seen it, or have an impressionable young person that respects actors
more than parents, show them this....