Carefonfidence: It's the Roman Way

Rome is not Munich.

Rome is not London.

Rome is Rome, and I love it.

Rome does not have the structure of London, nor the discipline of Munich. Rome is chaotic and alive and full of ancient history — the kind of ancient history that hooks you on ancient history for the rest of your life and ultimately leads you to get a degree in Anthropology. But enough about me.

To cross the street in London, you need to know the rules (zebra crossings FTW). To cross the street in Munich, you need to follow the rules (green man ONLY). To cross the street in Rome, you need carefonfidence(™). 

You must be careful and also confident.

Carefonfident. 

You might be at a crosswalk, but Rome isn't going to stop for you just because you look pretty today. Rome has places to be and cappuccinos to drink! Rome has no time for your floundering! Are you crossing or not because I'm only slowing down once!

Carefonfidence means looking for traffic in all directions, then closing your eyes to cross. (Metaphorically. (Sort of.)) One sign of hesitation, of uncertainty in the moment, and that Fiat is hitting the gas.

Carefonfidence is checking the dance floor for slick spots before busting a move at homecoming.

Carefonfidence is a life skill taught by your estranged aunt who'll teach you how to smoke then rat you out to your mother. Check all around you. Clear? Okay go!

Carefonfidence means owning that crosswalk like a lioness owns a cub. Put it between your teeth and declare, This Is Mine. I Tell It What To Do.

Am I getting carried away? I'm getting carried away.

My point is, Rome has a way of teaching you to be awesome. You learn how to be aware of your surroundings and how to gauge a situation. Then it teaches you how to say, "eff it" and go do whatchyoo gotta do. Or how to decide when maybe it's time to relax with a latte and try again later.

Being Pedestrian: UPDATE

I almost forgot my most-loathed fellow pedestrian:

The person who just —STOPS— whenever he or she is walking.

Or, as I have come to learn, they might stop at the top of an escalator. It's like they don't realize that an escalator will dump everyone else on top of you if you don't MOOOOOVE!

Also, I had to share this .gif I found on Reddit captioned, "Fucking Tourists."

I love it! They don't look where they're going, they travel in packs. Lord knows they'll have a selfie stick collection, too. Seriously? There are eighteen of you and no one will volunteer to take a photo of everyone else? You have to all cram in there so all you can see is one tower of Tower Bridge, half of Frank's face and three nostrils? That's great. Making memories. 

Anything but pedestrian

Having worked for a cycling/walking advocacy group, it's not unusual to realize that I think about walking more than the average bear. That has been especially true since moving here.

London has some infrastructure that makes walking super simple:

Image from The National Archives; photo displayed at the Design Museum.

1. Zebra crossings (that's ZEH-bra, not ZEE-bra): crosswalks where the pedestrian ALWAYS has the right-of-way. A city bus will stop for you if you even sneeze in the general direction of a zebra crossing. 
2. Location of crosswalks: they're not in the middle of a sprawling intersection. They're usually just a bit down the street, making it so you only have to look one way to cross a couple lanes of traffic. Which leads me to...
3. Medians everywhere. You can cross half the street when it's safe, even if there are cars coming from the opposite direction. Saves you time and doesn't have to stop all of the traffic. 
4. Public subways: Not a New York subway (here that's the Underground or the Tube), nor a sandwich shop. A subway is simply an underground walkway. You find them crossing under the biggest, busiest traffic zones. Instead of waiting for four walk signals that aren't coordinated, you pop down a flight of stairs, walk along a hallway, usually adorned with eye-catching artwork or mosaics, then pop back up on the other side of the street. Only caveat is they aren't usually wheelchair-accessible unless they're built in conjunction with a Tube station. (Unfortunately that is a similar story around much of London, though that seems to be improving.)
5. IDGAF attitudes about jaywalking: You cross at your own risk, but you can cross anywhere. If you're in someone's way, you will know immediately!

London has some cultural norms that can make walking super frustrating:

1. There are millions of people.
2. If anyone yields at all in a head-on approach situation, no one knows if they should veer left or right. You'd think it would follow the road rules (so, veer to the left; opposite of the states where we veer to the right). But my guess is there are too many immigrants for that to stick -- if half of London's residents default to veering right that means it's a crap shoot which way you should pick. Do a little dance. Continue on your way.
3. It is apparently common to take up ALL OF THE SIDEWALK if you are walking with a friend. I don't know if they have personal bubble issues or what, but if there are two or more people, they will expand to block the entire sidewalk
4. #3 is sometimes just one person on a cell phone who zig-zags unpredictably. 
5. Sometimes the sidewalks are only the size of a bloated curb. 

Exhibit A: Ellen walking on the sidewalk.

Exhibit B: three people magically using up the entire space.

Exhibit C: London's parks are freakin' beautiful to walk through, especially right now!