Now this is an area where the saying 'you can't teach an old dog new tricks' is completely accurate! Haha! Wow, we've been here nearly three years and I'm still prone to walk to the wrong side of the car! I can't even automatically tell you if we drive on the right side or the left side... I have to think about it! Now, don't worry, my driving skills are fine, I turn the correct way and stay in the correct lane. It's just the walking to the car to get in when you realize how much you do things that are formed by years of habit! It's worse at night when I can't see where the steering wheel is in the car as I walk towards it! haha.... Yes, I use the visual clue of where the steering wheel is to help me remember which side I'm supposed to walk to to get in! It's so pathetic! lol. Oh well, I do manage to get where I'm supposed to be and I just make it look like I meant to go that side of the car if I've accidentally chosen the wrong side!
Now walking you ask.....how could that be different in a different country? Well there are two main differences. One is when you get to a street to cross it. We are ingrained since childhood to look a certain way for cars. However, when you move to a country where the cars are going down the other side of the road, you have to then look the other way. So once again, in my old dog/new tricks deficiency, I just look both ways multiple times when I come to a road that I must walk across! haha..... It's so pathetic! I wonder if it will ever become a habit to look the correct way the first time?! In London I noticed that they actually have painted on the road/sidewalk 'look right' ....lots of North American visitors to educate there!
Now walking you ask.....how could that be different in a different country? Well there are two main differences. One is when you get to a street to cross it. We are ingrained since childhood to look a certain way for cars. However, when you move to a country where the cars are going down the other side of the road, you have to then look the other way. So once again, in my old dog/new tricks deficiency, I just look both ways multiple times when I come to a road that I must walk across! haha..... It's so pathetic! I wonder if it will ever become a habit to look the correct way the first time?! In London I noticed that they actually have painted on the road/sidewalk 'look right' ....lots of North American visitors to educate there! Secondly is when you are walking along a sidewalk or up/down stairs. Yes, this is geographically influenced! When we first moved here I was always walking on the wrong side of the sidewalk/stairwell. People would give me frustrated looks and dodge around me, or actually stand there and make me walk around them. Finally I figured out that we all walk along sidewalks and up and down stairways in the same way that we are used to driving down roads. One side goes one way, and the other side goes the other way. So, again, me being the old dog, I have to look for clues around me to ensure that I'm on the proper side of the sidewalk and not just the side that feels right to me!
I'm slowly getting myself sorted, but it has caused a few 'laugh at myself' moments! lol
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