crazy pedestrians

[lph]

So what did you say? "Uh, sorry, I usually ride a bike..."

Some pedestrians are just plain cute. Yesterday traffic had piled up in front of me so I swung up on the sidewalk, where I see an ancient old man 100 m ahead doddering in my direction with a ... don't know the name, push-thingy with four wheels. So I slow down, and keep to one side to give him plenty of room and not scare the poor guy.

But when great-grandpa catches sight of a (relatively) young woman, on a bicycle, wearing nothing but bike shorts, a sport top and bike shoes all he can do is stop, mouth wide open, eyes wide open and GAWK.

I still wonder how long it took til he started moving again.

[xeney]

The last 100 yards or so of my commute is through a bus depot and up the sidewalk towards our office's parking garage.
I'm usually saying "on your left" until I'm blue in the face and creeping along at their walking pace. Pedestrians are far less predictable than cars, they tend to "drift" on their walking path, they wander around without a glance.

But if you are on the sidewalk, you really should be going at their walking pace, shouldn't you? Is sidewalk cycling legal where you live?

It isn't where I live, except in residential areas (a law that was enacted so that kids don't have to ride on the street while they are still learning), and when I am walking downtown, it really irritates me to hear, "On your left!" like I am supposed to move over for a bike. It irritates me even more when they don't even bother with that, of course, but really, if you HAVE to be on the sidewalk where you aren't supposed to be, you should be ceding the right of way to pedestrians.