Wednesday, October 04, 2006
Do I look left first or is it right?
4/10 - 4.00 miles; down Albert to the beach, Pickles and Dorcas back; a bit slow because the route gave a lot of street crossings, it was a little warmer than it has been, not to mention my body trying to learn how to heal again and being a bit stiff from not running yesterday.
So, I was running along the beach, a lot of people, along Beach Rd, which is 3-4 lanes in each direction - it's a busy place. I heard screeching tires over to my right and as I looked in that direction, I saw what looked like someone jumping out of a convertible. But as my mind started to process what I was seeing, I realized that the guy was doing a head over heels over the car and landed (maybe on his feet?) on the road behind. The driver of the car got out and ran over to the guy (who was running across the street on a 'do not walk') but the guy told him to go on (he did pull over). So a few people, including myself, went over to see if he was hurt, "Na, I'm alright." "Did you you hurt anything?" "I do have a bit of blood on my knee here." This guy flipped over the entire car and landed on the road - and I noticed that he was also able to recover his hat during the ordeal. I wasn't going to be much help and some lady was calling for help on her cell phone so I ran on.
A mile later I'm coming up on a roundabout where I turn left but across the way there was a crowd of people with some crouching down and focused on the middle of the pack. As I turned the corner I saw a woman sitting on the ground wearing a bike helmet and then I noticed her bike leaning against the building next to her. I suspect she had bit of bad luck trying to make her way through the roundabout.
When your a kid you learn which way to look when you're crossing the street. I forget what it is but I know it because I do it all the time. Down here they drive on the other side of the street so, of course, you look the other way instead. But it is still ingrained in my head to do it the American way so I find myself looking the wrong way or looking the right way and then jumping when a car comes up behind me even if I am in the right place.
One thing though; I've been doing it since I got here and I've never done it before but down here I've been running with my ID. Now it seems like an even better idea.
So, I was running along the beach, a lot of people, along Beach Rd, which is 3-4 lanes in each direction - it's a busy place. I heard screeching tires over to my right and as I looked in that direction, I saw what looked like someone jumping out of a convertible. But as my mind started to process what I was seeing, I realized that the guy was doing a head over heels over the car and landed (maybe on his feet?) on the road behind. The driver of the car got out and ran over to the guy (who was running across the street on a 'do not walk') but the guy told him to go on (he did pull over). So a few people, including myself, went over to see if he was hurt, "Na, I'm alright." "Did you you hurt anything?" "I do have a bit of blood on my knee here." This guy flipped over the entire car and landed on the road - and I noticed that he was also able to recover his hat during the ordeal. I wasn't going to be much help and some lady was calling for help on her cell phone so I ran on.
A mile later I'm coming up on a roundabout where I turn left but across the way there was a crowd of people with some crouching down and focused on the middle of the pack. As I turned the corner I saw a woman sitting on the ground wearing a bike helmet and then I noticed her bike leaning against the building next to her. I suspect she had bit of bad luck trying to make her way through the roundabout.
When your a kid you learn which way to look when you're crossing the street. I forget what it is but I know it because I do it all the time. Down here they drive on the other side of the street so, of course, you look the other way instead. But it is still ingrained in my head to do it the American way so I find myself looking the wrong way or looking the right way and then jumping when a car comes up behind me even if I am in the right place.
One thing though; I've been doing it since I got here and I've never done it before but down here I've been running with my ID. Now it seems like an even better idea.
# posted by Keith @ 7:28 PM 
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I know what you mean about crossing the streets...I almost got caught on that one a few times in Dublin and in London! And I always try to get in the driver's seat of taxis...I think the driver's must think I am crazy or someone is sending me a message that I should consider a new profession! Glad to hear you're out running again!
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