Pedestrian thoughts

I work in the moderately famous cafe strip of Salamanca Place in Hobart. Most days Elf drops me in town on her way to work, and I stroll down the length of Salamanca, crossing two streets on the way. One intersection is a roundabout and the other a regular Give Way.

I am extremely determined not be killed or maimed while walking, and it is only my determination that has helped me survive these 42 years since I first became ambulant (March 1969 - in fact my first steps on Earth were just a couple of months before Neil Armstrong's first steps on the Moon).

I simply do not trust drivers to indicate/not indicate correctly, particularly in this area where most likely scoping the footpath for a free cafe table/talking on the phone/drinking a takeaway/all three while driving one-handed. So I stayed on the traffic island while a car came off the roundabout without indicating, then forty seconds later stayed on the footpath while car indicating right just kept on a-coming straight ahead.

So yeah, I survived. And I have to say we rarely hear ambulance sirens nearby at work, so I guess everyone else survives too, somehow. But I dream of one day seeing a sign or an ad campaign that simply says

WELCOME TO SALAMANCA 

WHERE THE ROAD RULES ARE 

THE SAME AS EVERYWHERE ELSE.