Why do I go against the flow?

I’m not sure, but I’m noticing I do it quite a lot.

Walking the dog

It started when I would walk the dog. It was probably a good decade ago when we got the dog, and I started walking her twice a day, at least a mile each time.

With the dog, I liked to have her on my left. Maybe it’s because I’m right-handed, but it feels more natural to put the dog on my left. It frees up my right hand if I need it. When I pass someone, the dog is on the outside — not next to the person we’re passing. If we pass a bicyclist, the dog is well out of the way. It was easier for her to do her business and not have to cross in front of me — a no-no — or pull to the other side of the path — another no-no.

Every dog I walk, I prefer them on the left. Yes, I can do the right, but for the reasons mentioned above, I prefer the left.

And so it continued, walking on the left.

I don’t walk every day like I did when I was walking the dog, but I still like walking and hiking. When I lived in Portugal, I walked every day — sometimes a lot of kilometers. In both Portugal and Tennessee, I enjoy hiking Meetups.

Right now, I’m staying near Schmeeckle Reserve in Stevens Point. It’s a lovely place with good trails for walking or biking. Of course it’s flat, because it’s central Wisconsin. I enjoy walking there.

But for all my time on the trails, I still find I go against the flow.

 

Rules of the road

If you walk on a street without sidewalks, you are supposed to walk on the left, facing traffic.

If you bike on the road, you are supposed to ride on the right, with traffic.

These are basic rules of walking safety that we learn as children. It’s a natural thing to learn and follow.

Why would it be different on a trail? Or in a wide hallway? Or on a sidewalk?

And yet, every time I walk, I meet people walking on the right.

And every time, I yield and cross over to the other side of the path, trail, sidewalk or hallway to let them pass.

As a biker, I got used to it. “Coming up on your left” was my mantra — because everyone walked on the right.

For the sake of safety between pedestrians and bicyclists, it makes sense to walk on the left and ride on the right. If you’re going in the same direction, neither one has to move. The bicyclist can call out “coming up on your right,” and no one swerves or moves. Coming toward each other, the bicyclist can yield to go around the walker, who has the right of way.

For bicyclists, it makes sense to ride on the right, as a bicycle is treated like a vehicle, and vehicles travel on the right.

Still, I’m not even saying I’m right. There is a trail in Collegedale, Tenn., which instructs walkers to stay right and bikers to go slow and give walkers the right of way. I haven’t been able to find a definitive answer. But it’s curious to me that as soon as people get off the road and on a trail, they switch sides. Why?

 

Go against the flow

Recently, I’ve noticed other walkers look at me oddly. Between the hat and the dress with black Skechers walking shoes, I know I look different. But I’m just doing my thing. Maybe it’s just me, but they seem to look at me like they really don’t know what to think.

In Tennessee, I live in a fairly religious area, so the dress or skirt doesn’t get much attention. Even the hat isn’t as big of a thing.

But the combo in Wisconsin seems to get the same sort of looks as a Halloween costume in July.

Not that I’m changing my look. I’m not. I like it, and it suits me, but it goes against the flow.

It’s easier just to give a little smile, cross to the other side of the path and keep moving.

So I don’t go with the flow. Not when I walk. Nor in the way I dress. Not in my life. I do what I feel is right, and I get out of the way of those who look at me oddly and keep focused on their track.

I definitely prefer this way of life.

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How to Be a Better Writer Tip

Look it up

Back in my newspaper days, the AP Stylebook was updated once a year. We’d get new copies and eagerly read the updates and changes. Things would be added, altered and removed.

And then the internet came, and we had new rules and new changes, and slowly but surely, AP Style changed, too. Sometimes it was for the better. Sometimes not. I still can’t get behind using “over” and “more than” interchangeably.

Now that the AP Stylebook is online, updates come out more frequently. Today, I got an email about some changes. The most significant is to use the percent symbol in nearly all references. I knew it was coming. We used to only use the symbol in headlines, because “%” takes up less space than “percent,” and space is at a premium in headlines. In an online world where we shorten many things, using % instead of the word spelled out is a logical conclusion.

But it makes me a little nostalgic for the days when rules stuck around for decades. Now, it just means it’s one more thing for me to look up to be sure I’m using it correctly.

That’s your tip for today. If you’re not sure how to use something, look it up. The dictionary is a good place to start if you don’t have to follow a style guide, such as AP Stylebook or the Chicago Manual of Style. It’s better than guessing and getting it wrong.