Quandaries

The UK is very similar to South Africa (or should I say that South Africa is similar to the UK) in so many ways making the adjustment to moving to a new country decidedly easier. There is one thing that has confounded me since the minute I arrived though. As you know, in the UK (as in SA), people drive on the left. In a number of the subways and passages in the labyrinth of the tubes signs, stipulate that you should stick to the left when walking to make rush hour more orderly.

Why then are all the escalators going down on the right and why do all the slow people stand on the right and let the faster people pass on the left. There are even signs requesting slower people to pass on the left. This defies logic. Don't they know? Bly links, ry regs verby. I've really given it a lot of thought. J suggested that maybe it was because pedestrians are supposed to walk into the oncoming traffic ie. on the right. This is a good point but doesn't hold because the elevator situation is the same here as in the States and they drive on the right.

The only feasible option I have been able to come up with is that the escalators were designed by someone from a country that drives on the right and the oversight was only picked up after it was too late. Isn't that what happened on Hospital Bend? A Dutch (I think) civil engineer was involved in the design phase which is way the onramps to and from town both come onto the fast lines.

I decided to sms my question to 6XX6. The service that claims that they answer any question you could want but then didn't respond when we asked them whether it was safe to camp on a cliff in the Isle of Wight. We suspect it was because of a liability issue. I'll keep you posted with the answer.