Traffic People

I forge my own path every day. Literally. I commute from the core of "The City" which is the true original city of London and the financial hub into the heart of the city at large in its center, and the area of law firms clustered around the courts and chambers of law. Of course, I make this commute at the busiest times of the day: 8 am and 6 pm. It's like playing frogger, and God forbid I decide to text or look down to change the song on my phone and I've been run into or I have run into someone else. Remarkably though, traffic of people, completely unprotected by the metal of a car, isn't that much different than Atlanta or LA traffic. Everyone sticks to their own bubble and there are certain public transportation rules that everyone observes. Obey the unspoken code, or receive stares and glares galore.

Just like there are rules of the road, the rules of the riders for Transport for London have a code of conduct. 
Escalators: walkers walk on the left side, standers stand on the right. This is taken seriously and you will be run over or pushed if you're doing the wrong action in the wrong 'lane'. Switching lanes is also dangerous and must be done swiftly.

You cannot hug a pole or handrail, you can merely hold onto it. Hugging, or leaning your whole body against such a place for others to put their hands makes everyone sway unsteadily and causes social strife. 

There are no consequences for jay walking. 


No talking. Well, you can talk, of course, but no one else is. And whoever is, is a tourist. This rule is taken less seriously on the overground or bus where there is service but it's still widely observed. 

Speaking of tourists, every pedestrian cross walk has 'LOOK LEFT' or 'LOOK RIGHT' instructions so that pedestrians know which direction to check before they cross the road. I love this because I do actually use it a lot. I wish I could have been a fly on the wall when they decided to paint these instructions on every corner and crosswalk in this massive city. The staffer to the Mayor, "Sir, for the last calendar year, we've had 11,567 accidents on crosswalks where the injured reported that they didn't understand which directions the cars were coming." "Bloody hell, do we need to put instructions to all the tourists on every corner?!!" Yes, apparently so. (If you don't get this joke, you're forgetting that they drive on the wrong side of the road in this country)

On the note of crossing the street, this is a good place to mention that no matter how confused you are on which direction to look... If you wait for the light to completely change and don't start darting across the road in between cars, you're a tourist. 

Food and drink rules are interesting. Drinks are forbidden on the buses to the point where a bus driver will not let you on the bus if you have one in your hand. Drinks are cool on the tube, but food is not. You are welcome to bring it of course, but no one eats on the tube. Especially if you have something like chips, I mean, crisps, and you're just there crunching away, you'll catch all the stares of that entire cart. 

To finish this post about rules of the London commute, I will say, if you ever happen to drop your phone on the tube tracks, its best not to panic. It's NO BIG DEAL. You'll just use the emergency button/"help pointe" to call a member of staff. They will determine, depending on where your phone has landed on the tracks if they will be allowed to retrieve it. Then, they will stop the tube cart completely, make the driver get out of the cart, and then other members of staff will use this little stick thingy to retrieve your phone from the track. If the stick thingy doesn't work, they will do the entire charade over again and use the same stick thing a second time. I wouldn't know or anything.... ;)