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Runners versus walkers: Tension is rising again as to how trails should be navigated during the pandemic.
But I’d like to suggest a bigger threat: half of the parents.
We all see them, wandering through the center of a sometimes narrow path. Avoiding one is participating in a damn game of chicken or stepping on the muddy grass (or hitting the road).
They are joined by others who defy the nerves during a fragile time.
1. The gang of scattered companions: this is across generations and gender. Teens ride bikes or skateboards. The adults have gone for a coffee to go and a brisk walk. If you must do this (experts say it’s risky), couldn’t you just watch a short single-file formation as someone else approaches? Because you are forcing others to get out of the way or into risky proximity to you.
2. The long-leash dog walker: Of course, let your dog sniff the grass and trees on the side of the road. But can it be done somehow without horizontal cordoning off the road? Like some kind of communal tripwire? This is especially tricky at night.
3. The creators of the Covid cannon: so you have met a neighbor on your walk and are chatting at a distance of two meters. But you do it on opposite sides of the road, creating a slim canyon on the road that no one can pass without being within a meter of one of you. Why can’t you walk past your friend’s path and chat from six feet away?
4. Sudden braking: you are walking on a moderately busy but socially distant path. The person a few feet in front of you stops suddenly, almost always to check their phone, creating a socially distant clash. Move aside to reply to a text message, maybe?
5. The family: it’s lovely to get some fresh air together. But don’t be like teenage gangs at night, taking it all the way and forcing others out.
Online editors
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