Rainy Courtesy in the City
I always find it interesting to take notice of people around me who understand Vancouver’s rainy weather culture and how to navigate the streets politely. The locals who live here seem to glide along with ease and awareness while jumping puddles and handling umbrellas. All the while, tourists, newly arrived Korean exchange students, and business travelers stand out on the streets and often impede the natural flow of a rainy Van-City morning.
I noticed this again today I decided to take a rainy walk to work. I live 20 about minutes away and although I’ve got a car and a reserved underground parking spot downtown, I try to walk as often as possible. Armed with my sturdy red umbrella and a coffee, I hit Georgia Street with a quick stride. My Ipod set the soundtrack with some funky Chromeo tunes, which always makes me smile and groove along.
I noticed that about 80% of the people passing by were equipped with umbrellas. The other wet and quick moving 20% were ducking for cover wherever they could along the way. I’d say only about half of those who did have an umbrella actually knew how to use it well in a city that sees a lot of rain.
At 8 am in the centre of town, the uncertain umbrella user doesn’t seem to be aware of the fact that they are carrying a potential weapon. I see so many small people with giant umbrellas and little regard for the people around them. For those of you who are about 5’6, and there are many of you, your umbrella is at the perfect height to poke out one of my eyes at 5’11 in heels; yet many of you seem blissfully unaware of potentially blinding a complete stranger. These are often the same people who keep their golf umbrellas open while walking under awnings and narrow covered walkways while the umbrella-less pedestrians forced to move into the rain will scowl without making eye contact.
Then you notice the good mannered locals who live in this city and understand proper umbrella etiquette. These people make sure they don’t use a giant golf umbrella for daily trips to the office. They tilt and/or lift umbrellas when passing others on the street to enable the traffic to flow past each other with ease. They also ensure a closed umbrella for the construction zone blocks that are enclosed and covered spaces. They are also aware that they may in fact take out someone’s eye with their umbrella’s sharp corners and they command their rain weapons accordingly.
Perhaps we need to hand out umbrella etiquette to all new travelers visiting our often wet city. I realize they do not live here and most likely don’t have to deal with nearly as much wet as we do but I wish they could know a little more about rain Vancouver culture. Perhaps even a whole Vancouver courtesy pamphlet should be given to all travelers to help them understand the unwritten cultural norms and help us all flow to work more freely on rainy days. A picture card can be developed for those who don’t speak English. Hmmm……..
For those of you who use your umbrellas wisely, I thank you and salute your rain protection intelligence. For those of you who don’t know how to get by with courtesy in the rain, please read paragraph 4 again. For those without umbrellas when I have one, I will always leave the covered sidewalks free for you. To everyone else, I will do my very best not to poke out one of your eyes with my sturdy red weather weapon!
I always find it interesting to take notice of people around me who understand Vancouver’s rainy weather culture and how to navigate the streets politely. The locals who live here seem to glide along with ease and awareness while jumping puddles and handling umbrellas. All the while, tourists, newly arrived Korean exchange students, and business travelers stand out on the streets and often impede the natural flow of a rainy Van-City morning.
I noticed this again today I decided to take a rainy walk to work. I live 20 about minutes away and although I’ve got a car and a reserved underground parking spot downtown, I try to walk as often as possible. Armed with my sturdy red umbrella and a coffee, I hit Georgia Street with a quick stride. My Ipod set the soundtrack with some funky Chromeo tunes, which always makes me smile and groove along.
I noticed that about 80% of the people passing by were equipped with umbrellas. The other wet and quick moving 20% were ducking for cover wherever they could along the way. I’d say only about half of those who did have an umbrella actually knew how to use it well in a city that sees a lot of rain.
At 8 am in the centre of town, the uncertain umbrella user doesn’t seem to be aware of the fact that they are carrying a potential weapon. I see so many small people with giant umbrellas and little regard for the people around them. For those of you who are about 5’6, and there are many of you, your umbrella is at the perfect height to poke out one of my eyes at 5’11 in heels; yet many of you seem blissfully unaware of potentially blinding a complete stranger. These are often the same people who keep their golf umbrellas open while walking under awnings and narrow covered walkways while the umbrella-less pedestrians forced to move into the rain will scowl without making eye contact.
Then you notice the good mannered locals who live in this city and understand proper umbrella etiquette. These people make sure they don’t use a giant golf umbrella for daily trips to the office. They tilt and/or lift umbrellas when passing others on the street to enable the traffic to flow past each other with ease. They also ensure a closed umbrella for the construction zone blocks that are enclosed and covered spaces. They are also aware that they may in fact take out someone’s eye with their umbrella’s sharp corners and they command their rain weapons accordingly.
Perhaps we need to hand out umbrella etiquette to all new travelers visiting our often wet city. I realize they do not live here and most likely don’t have to deal with nearly as much wet as we do but I wish they could know a little more about rain Vancouver culture. Perhaps even a whole Vancouver courtesy pamphlet should be given to all travelers to help them understand the unwritten cultural norms and help us all flow to work more freely on rainy days. A picture card can be developed for those who don’t speak English. Hmmm……..
For those of you who use your umbrellas wisely, I thank you and salute your rain protection intelligence. For those of you who don’t know how to get by with courtesy in the rain, please read paragraph 4 again. For those without umbrellas when I have one, I will always leave the covered sidewalks free for you. To everyone else, I will do my very best not to poke out one of your eyes with my sturdy red weather weapon!
2 comments:
Umbrella etiquette: great phrase!
Funny. I see this all the time here :)
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