Is it just me?

There was a time when people thought about the consequences of certain actions before they did them, and prepare for anything that might happen subsequently, if possible. Now a lot of people have reached the stage where they would jump off a cliff first and then decide on the next action. Maybe we were all too considerate to others before and now it is “I am going to do this so tough luck it” attitude. And it does not seem to be a generation or national trait either.

Getting in the way of other people seems to be a common action. If people wanted to converse in the street a few years ago they would step to the side but now there is a tendency to stand in the middle of the pavement so everybody has to walk around them. Or sitting on steps on rail stations or outside shops, why? Don’t they realize that they are in the way? And they look astounded if you ask them to move or if they get hit with luggage.

I have recently seen three people sitting on the bottom step of some stairs that lead onto two of the busiest platforms at a station in Manchester, England totally oblivious to the hundreds of people who were trying to get past them with large cases and shopping bags. There are also the people who get to the top or bottom of steps (or escalators) and then stop dead to look around to see where to go next, why can’t they move an extra few paces to leave room for other people to get of the steps/escalators.

At my local rail station people get to the bottom of the steps to the platform and then stop and put there luggage down and wait for their train. Because of this the next people will have to walk right around them or they just stop and put their luggage down as well causing a real jam. Yet again, why can’t they see that by moving a few more yards they leave access to the stairs and the platform?

And do you feel invisible when you walk through a city centre. Why is it always me that has to get out of the way, OK if it is for people with wheelchairs, pushchairs etc. but it seems to be for everybody. You can always tell other tormented souls who feel like I do and we both get out of the way of each other, it tarts quite a little dance movement. But to finish of this list of irritants, the people who stand in a queue at cash tills in a supermarket and then wait until all their groceries have gone through the till before trying to find their money or piece of plastic. Didn’t they realize they would have to pay?

I realize all these are pretty minor mindless acts compared with some actions such as drink-driving but hopefully they are more common place and at least we can laugh at the perpetrators and the consequences, something which we can’t do with drink-driving.