Silly ruminations
This is a country that drives on the right side of the street. In many of our activities the right side is dominant, including the spot where one can make a turn on a red light after a complete stop. Has any one but me ever thought about the reasoning at Wal-Mart, many supermarkets and malls etc. that have you enter on the left side and exit on the right side? It sort of walks against a natural imperative. (One of my sons is left handed. He probably thinks that it is about time he got the right of way—can the left hand side be the right of way or should we call it the left of way?)
Have you ever wished, as I do, that companies would adopt some standard of size and power of battery chargers and power supplies for electronic gizmos. I have a cardboard box full of battery chargers and power supplies, and every time I decide I am going to take the darn things either to the dump or to GoodWill, something happens that I have to root through the box through the box to compare connectors battery sizes, voltage and milliamps to find something that is absolutely crucial.
I had four or five other silly things I wanted to write about but, having sat down at the computer my old coot brain won’t remember what they were until I have finished to post and posted it.
posted by Three Score and Ten or more @ 3:35 PM
3 Comments:
Although I don't go to Walmart, I do agree that stores don't pay enough attention to traffic flow. Here in our town, the winning grocery store that finally drove all the other grocery stores out of business built a huge new store. Their entrance AND exit is on the left side of the building through a six foot wide door. So entering the door on the right you turn right to get your grocery cart. All is good. Except that those people checking out are now crossing in front of you trying to head to my left side of the door creating a mix of people booking for the door and hustling for the food. To make matters worse they have a food court off to the left as you come in so there are now three loops of traffic all trying to merge and exit/enter through the same door. Now to add the kicker, where do people meet friends and want to talk for a few minutes, right at the entrance to the store. The genius who designed that store ought to be shot.
On another tangent, here in vanilla midwest, walking down the sidewalk is pretty straight forward. Most people stay to the right. I've found when going to more asian diverse cities like parts of New York, it really gets confusing as their default is the left side of the sidewalk. Back to my original point, pushing a shopping cart down a narrow aisle is about like doing a slalom against oncoming traffic.
mmm depends on what a person is 'trained' to believe.
Us Aussies sit on the 'right' side of the vehicle which travels on the 'left' side of the road. Curious conundrum.
Perhaps us Aussies are "ancients" - hearking back to when most warriors were "dexter" and carried swords on the 'sinister' - or 'lefthand' side.
Imagine riding a horse along a narrow track through a forest: see a rider approaching. Is he wearing armour?
If it 'twere me - would angle my horse to the left, and keep my sword hand free.
Oh, he raises his visor. Me, without a visor; returns his gesture. (methink it's called a 'salute' )
We pass in peace.
Long story, i guess.
Davoh, old buddy, that's why I began the post with a comment that we in the U. S. are right side oriendted. I have spent time in
Britain and Sweden, both of which are left hand oriented. It makes sense that stores in those countries enter on the left and leave on the right (though I can't remember if they do or not.
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