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From: ajs@eisx.UUCP (A. Stillwell)
Newsgroups: net.misc
Subject: Re: Do people walk to the left in England?
Message-ID: <631@eisx.UUCP>
Date: Thu, 17-Nov-83 16:43:51 EST
Article-I.D.: eisx.631
Posted: Thu Nov 17 16:43:51 1983
Date-Received: Sat, 19-Nov-83 01:27:12 EST
Lines: 42

I came from England to work here about two years ago.

This is a subject that has fascinated me since I realised the
reason for many collisions with people in the hallways (this can be
a more or less pleasant experience, depending on whom you collide
with).    :-)

After much consideration, these are my answers to the questions:

	1. Does anyone know whether people in England pass
 	   each other on the left when walking down the street?

Yes, they certainly do.  I remember being told when I started the 
equivalent of High School that one must walk in the corridors on the
left hand side, and I noticed that people generally pass each other
on the left while walking on the pavement (that means 'sidewalk' in
American English; confusing, isn't it?) when I visited Perfidious
Albion this summer.

	2. Does anyone know how or why this custom began?

I am convinced that that the reason is linked to the practice of
driving on the left in vehicles (I said vehicles because I believe
the practice was around before automobiles).  

	3. Are more people in England left-handed than
 	   people in other countries, or what?

Interesting idea, but I am not a southpaw, and I am not aware of any
practice that has been influenced by left-handed people in England. 
In fact, I get the impression that sinistrals are as much a
down-trodden group as they are here.  I think the answer is lost in
the mists of antiquity, unless someone else knows better.

Incidentally, I still tend to walk down the 'wrong' side of hallways
even now, despite having no trouble driving on the right.  
I put this down to the lack of real danger in failing to readjust the
pedestrian habit, whereas the vehicular one brings obvious problems.
Besides which, you make more friends bumping into people in halls...


			Tony Stillwell