Walking in L.A.

A Jon Weisman post at Dodger Thoughts that is not about baseball inspired a long run of comments on being a pedestrian, here and elsewhere. Jon began by addressing an L.A. sidewalk conundrum and ended up channeling Seinfeld.

You know when you get to the crosswalk of an intersection when a pedestrian is already there ahead of you, and you're tempted to press the button, but you don't do it, because you feel it would be insulting to the person who got there ahead of you? Or you press the button, but you feel a little guilty or stupid about it?

Anyway, the last two times I've gotten to the crosswalk with other people there, they haven't pushed the button. They've just been standing there, waiting to cross - thus forcing all of us to scramble through the intersection against a red "don't walk" sign. Talk to the hand, indeed.

People, I implore you, keep up your end of the deal. Trust begets trust. It's like the squirrels getting out of the way of your car. We live in a society, you know.

My favorite comment, at #21 in the thread: "I was once with my dad when he got a jaywalking ticket. He asked the officer if he could go to Walking School. The officer didn't seem to find it as amusing as I did."