Today I crossed a street.
I mention this because any Bostonian knows that pedestrians have the right of way when crossing the street. It could be rush hour in Harvard Square with cars bumper to bumper behind innumerable red lights, but if an uppity little undergraduate wants to cross the street, then everything must - and will - stop for her. Any Bostonian knows this. Any guest of a Bostonian knows this as well. When I took a group of friends around Boston this spring, one of them marveled, "You're just gonna walk into traffic?!" Well, yeah.
Conversely, any non-Bostonian knows that pedestrians don't have the right of way. Maybe the statutes say otherwise, but the reality is that cars rarely, if ever, yield to crossing pedestrians. This can spell trouble for former Bostonians. Georgetown is riddled with four-way stop signs but cars rarely ever stop. So far, I have not been deterred. My Bostonian feet just walk into traffic. I'm sure this will result in some sort of honk-and-scream, and today I thought it had come.
With no cars in sight, I stepped into the crosswalk. An SUV pulled up right as I reached the middle. It honked. I looked up and expected to see a red-faced shirt type furious with my audacity (even though, when I looked, I hadn't seen anybody). Instead I saw four young and very handsome Georgetown students, each smiling and waving. Not knowing what to do, I smiled and waved back.
Later I asked the Captain, a Georgetown graduate himself, was that just a custom? Some sort of south-of-the-Mason-Dixon courtesy everyone learns at orientation? Or had I somehow crossed the line into cougar-ville and those fine young men had taken notice?
He said cougar. Thanks, honey.
Wednesday, September 17, 2008
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4 comments:
I have a simple SOP when driving through Cambridge and Somerville (where pedestrians are particularly obnoxious about crossing the street): If the pedestrian is crossing when they have a red light, or they are crossing outside one of the several dozen crosswalks painted every 50 feet on Mass Ave, I slip my car into neutral and rev the engine.
It may not prevent me from stopping and is a bit on the childish side, but it keeps my blood pressure in check as I enjoy their reaction.
Oh, Mitch.
I can see your head slowly shaking all the way from Boston. :)
I am tempted to try Mitch's way but worried I may not correctly identify the "neutral" gear and end up commiting vehicular manslaughter, which is (correct me if I'm wrong, Miss J) a separate crime in Massachusetts.
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