A Question of Etiquette

So you’re walking down a rural road – a long straight rural road – and you see in the distance another walker coming towards you. The question is not whether, when you do meet, you’re going to say hello to them – that goes without saying. The question is, how soon do you acknowledge their presence during the walking-towards-them process? Do you smile and raise your hand as soon as you have seen them, and then have to maintain a sort of rictus grin until you’re within hailing distance? Or do you find that gosh-that’s-a-fascinating-hedgerow until you’re almost upon them and then suddenly look up and notice they’re there?

This entry was posted on Thursday, June 25th, 2009 at 4:12 pm and is filed under Rural Hazards, Rural Life. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.

5 Responses to “A Question of Etiquette”

  1. anotherblogger Says:
    June 25, 2009 at 4:17 pm | Reply

    not until you see the whites of their eyes.

    I’m hopeless without my specs on (which I rarely wear) so I just wait until they’re in focus and then say hi. I think it’s fine to make eye contact, smile wanly, look at the scenery for a bit, continue in silence and say hello just as they are about two paces away. I think you get extra points if you say hello first and triple points if you get a hello from the grumpy teenager. But points are deducted if it turns out you do actually know these people and hadn’t recognise them because you were so busy looking at the hedge.

  2. Brian Clegg Says:
    June 25, 2009 at 5:24 pm | Reply

    I walk the dog a lot on rural roads – I find the ‘pretend you haven’t seen them until the last minute (if necessary pay attention to the dog), then a firm ‘good morning’ (or whatever) works well. Unless they’re under 21, in which case a smile seems to work better as they think you’re a bit weird.

  3. Paul Says:
    June 25, 2009 at 6:00 pm | Reply

    I also walk the dogs but have anotherblogger’s eyesight. The dogs, however, can spot a rabbit twitch at 3,000 yards so I am soon aware of an imminent incident.

    I then spend the next 2,995 yards trying to spot if the walker has an unleashed dog, in case it develops into an imminent stressful incident.

    By this time the on-comer is desperately working out which side of the road will be safest.

    We pass, I smile apologetically. They normally grimace. I pat the dogs for letting another victim go.

  4. disgruntled Says:
    June 25, 2009 at 6:42 pm | Reply

    my eyesight is rubbish too, but I always wear my glasses. And I don’t have a dog which marks me out as a bit of a wierdo (why would anyone walk without a dog?).

    Actually, now I come to think about it, the woman I encountered today was mainly concerned to make sure her two ferocious (but ankle-high) charges were under control as I passed…

  5. Gregory Says:
    June 26, 2009 at 12:08 pm | Reply

    Someone I don’t know saying hello to me?… Eeek! I must be in the scary countryside!

Leave a Reply