This could very well form the much delayed second instalment of my infrequent "Shitlist" series, but I will try to keep it lighthearted! But who knows.
My issue du jour is that of those who insist on walking along while engaged in some kind of activity with/on their mobile communication device. It would be wrong to merely label them as phones when they don so much more and some people seem to not use them for speech preferring instead to thumb keyboard, be it of the real or virtual kind. That doesn't bother me so much. It kind of does in that we as a society are losing the art of conversation. I was shocked when someone close to me pointed out recently that I used 'Facebook' as a verb!! Have I become the thing I hate? Anyhow all that is digression my current grip is people walking and texting/emailing or whatever it is they are doing on their phone that prevents them from paying attention to where they are going. Oh for the good old days when we didn't all have mobile phones just so we could inform our nearest and dearest as well as the rest of the carriage that we were on the whatever train and should be arriving at such and such time - at least you would think that as everyone seems to be so text happy nowadays that such banality could remain unspoken and consigned to the tapping of keys.
This honestly is not meant to be a rant, more over it is intended and an impassioned plea to anyone and everyone to please have some consideration for your fellow man (and I use the term in relation to mankind, not just men, so the PC brigade can just get back on your high horse and ride on out of here).
There have been so many occasions when someone walking along while trying to use a mobile device of some kind has impeded my progress that I cannot recount them all - and I am sure similar has happened to the rest of you (if indeed there is anyone out there) One example happened to me a couple of months ago as I was trying to ascend the stairs at my local train station to the platform. The woman in front of me was engrossed in her phone and as well as using it to text or engage with some social networking site or other (I neither know nor care which if truth be told( she was also listening to her music on it (thankfully she was using earphones as opposed to the tinny speaker - and pray I don't get started on that little gem - although it is nothing a tall tower and an a high powered rifle couldn't sort out). Back to the story... As I was saying, this woman was so engrossed in her phone and the worlds it transported her to on many levels that she was so totally unaware of the people behind her trying to get past and onto the train that was just pulling into the platform. Needless to say she shuffled up the stairs with such incredible slowness that the train was leaving the platform before we had even reached the top. I was not the only person that missed their train that morning and were we Brits not so uptight then someone would have said something, instead everyone just seethed inwardly and the culprit sat down got out her nail file and rasp away at her talons.
Another time when navigating my way along Oxford Street a young man bumped into me - ordinarily I would have not minded as it is a busy street most of the time and often a collision is inevitable. However he was bowling along at quite a pace head bowed over his iPhone causing other pedestrians to scatter from his path or left dazed and reeling in his wake. I however did not see him approaching until it was too late, but I had nowhere to go to avoid him and the inevitable happened. Now this is where I am afraid that my language is going to get a little strong and point out that I was now pissed off. Not only for having collided with this inconsiderate fellow, but the fact that he looked at me and tutted - as if it were my fault. I shall not repeat what I called him, but suffice it to say that his legitimacy was called into question and no-one in a ten-yard radius was in any doubt as to my feelings on the matter. And then as soon as it happened it was over.
In this day and age of impatience with people wanting more and wanting it sooner, please be considerate to your fellow man. Watch where you are going, turn down your music, offer your seat to the elderly or infirm or to expectant mothers or those with young children. Hold doors for others and in turn say thank you to those who have held a door for you. Signal when driving and offer a wave of thanks to other motorists... get the picture? It's that old Christian tenet of do unto others - but leaving religion out of this quite simply treat others how you would like to be treated (I wish I could stick to this, but alas I am only human)
Many have accused me of lacking tolerance, which may be true, but there are two sides to this argument. Why are me and those like me so intolerant... could it possibly be that others are inconsiderate and so totally engrossed in their own existence that they have little or no awareness of the world around them?
That feels better. I shall climb down off my soap box and store it safely away til next time. Oh and there will almost certainly be a next time...