I don’t drive and, as a result, I can be found walking or
bussing around London. If I am not on the street walking, I am watching
pedestrians at bus stops form a traditional orderly British queue to get into
the bus. When I arrived in London some 22 years ago, I remember trying to board
a bus in Kent before it was my turn only to find a large gruff bearded Kentish
man behind me who thundered “Oi! It’s not your turn mate!”
Since then I have respected the orderly British way of boarding
a bus and they way we abide by escalator etiquette on the Underground and
“stand on the right”! I don’t see why we should suddenly have this tradition rudely
interrupted by sweaty spandex-clad folk who seem to be rather upset by actual
pedestrians interrupting their fitness routines. I wonder if perhaps they refer
to us as ‘street walkers’!
I must say I respect joggers. I respect the work they put
in. Yes there are rewards too but it takes effort to get up off the sofa, dress
in spandex and run in public while sweating profusely and looking stressed (a
jogger who smiles back at you is as rare as a shy Apprentice candidate!). I am
fortunate to have two close friends who have run the London and Paris marathons
and many more who raise money for charity jogging in fun runs and half-marathons.
Admirable denizens one and all. Running a marathon (other than in the
organisational sense!) is something I will never do.
But I was moved to write this blog while I sat on the 363
bus in Peckham last Thursday morning. The pavement was crowded with young
school kids in their uniforms along with parents and a few buggies. Into the
melee jogged a spandex-clad
jogger at relatively high speed causing near-chaos. Some smaller kids were
nearly run over as this fitness freak dodged, zigzagged and stumbled her way at
8.15am through the crowded Peckham streets in rush-hour. When Cleethorpes man Rod
Temperton wrote the Thriller
lyric “terrorise y’awls neighbourhood” I thought he was writing about zombies.
I’m now thinking he also must have had an unfortunate encounter with a London
Street Jogger!
We Londoners are so fortunate to live in one of the greenest
cities in Europe with thousands of acres of parks that are thoroughly suitable
for joggers. Parks and
Recreation should really be set in London to be truly authentic! This jogger was yards away from a newly
opened cycle path and walkway (joggers encouraged!) between Peckham and the wonderful
redeveloped Burgess Park. Facilities developed for the community at local
taxpayers’ expense – a great local government initiative to encourage fitness
and brighten our environment.
So joggers! We love and respect you and want to protect you.
So please love and respect us and jog in the parks and on the walking routes
and not through our crowded streets and through our school-going children and
on-off-then-on-again on our pavements being choked by the fumes from our cars
and lorries. Or through our train-stations trying to overtake the 600 people
who have just stepped off the 8.17am from Dorking! There are wonderful, quiet,
scenic paved pathways, well maintained, all around you.
And to those lycra-clad joggers who want to continue to
disrupt our rush-hours – and managing to do so while at the same time
disrupting their training regime and playing havoc with their times! – well, as
far as I’m concerned they can “jog on”!
Now that's what I think - so what do you think?
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