Friday 17 February 2012

Staying Right

You will see these cool leaf imprints on the sidewalks around Yaletown
This may seem a bit of an odd post to be getting into, but being English (where everything is done on the left) you can perhaps start to empathise with my concerns. Basically, I find myself occassionally walking into people here in Vancouver, not because I am mad, but I have come to the conclusion that this happens because I am just overly English (in some respects!) I mean even when I was in India last year, there is still evidence of a colonial hangover, as I had no worries freely veering to the left-hand side of the (not very exsistent) pavement, or driving on the left-hand side of the roads in Goa, as this was something that was not changed in the wake of Indian Independance.

In Commonwealth Canada however, it is a different ball game altogether. I walk around downtown with my girlfriend, and she is constantly dragging me over to the right-hand side of the sidewalk. Additionally, and somewhat scarily, should you have a current UK driving license, you are actually allowed to drive in Canada for upto six months from your time of arrival - cruising on the freeway wouldn't be so bad, but driving within a city, no thanks! I think the remedy for this little quirk that I have discovered is to just keep practising, right, and if worst comes to worst, just apologize in your best British accent!

1 comment:

  1. I know exactly what you mean! Obviously I am very used to it now after a few summers here and a couple of years on the continent, but the first time I was in France I was constantlly (almost) walking into people as our brains are so used to moving slightly to the left as we pass people on the street.

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