Devagar - Life in the sloooooow lane
I’m a pretty fast walker, usually because I’m running late
and have underestimated how long it will take me to get to places. I honed my
pace in my childhood, from the age of about four, when I had to run to catch up with
my 6ft-dad walking to school. Pace is good. It may not always be relaxing but
it gets my heart rate up and my muscles working.
It seems I’m not the only one who thinks so. The pace of life, measuring pedestrians’ walking pace, had gone up by 10% in 2007, compared with the 1990s. Admittedly this research, led by Professor Richard Wiseman, is 10 years old, but by this logic the pace of life should be even faster now.
Slow as a sloth
It seems I’m not the only one who thinks so. The pace of life, measuring pedestrians’ walking pace, had gone up by 10% in 2007, compared with the 1990s. Admittedly this research, led by Professor Richard Wiseman, is 10 years old, but by this logic the pace of life should be even faster now.
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| I think this speaks for itself |
Well, not in some cities it would appear. I thought that
people walked slowly in Buenos Aires, where we moved to from London in 2015. I
was wrong. Since moving to Sao Paulo in July I have realised that
many people here walk even slower.
Sao Paulo is a great city, don't get me wrong. It's international, modern, has heaps going on, sunny and friendly. Yet, one thing it lacks is pace. Despite its reputation for terrible traffic and its sheer size (the most populous in the Americas and Southern Hemisphere at 11.9 million as of 2016), one thing it's not known for is speed.
Sao Paulo is a great city, don't get me wrong. It's international, modern, has heaps going on, sunny and friendly. Yet, one thing it lacks is pace. Despite its reputation for terrible traffic and its sheer size (the most populous in the Americas and Southern Hemisphere at 11.9 million as of 2016), one thing it's not known for is speed.
Slow as a sloth
Call me grumpy but I do get annoyed with people who walk at
a sloth’s pace. I’m not talking about elderly people, those with mobility
issues, pregnant women etc, just your average folk. Once could argue that Sao
Paulo is pretty hilly and the state of the pavements are terrible, two things
that certainly hinder walking speed.
Yet, I’m generally pushing a buggy about and still manage to walk faster than the average pedestrian. And even with the buggy, I don’t take up the whole pavement. I’m usually stuck behind someone who doesn’t understand what a straight line is or behind groups that take up the whole pavement, oblivious to who or what is behind them. This is the hell that is urban pavements, as the Guardian columnist Michele Hanson, so accurately describes it.
Maybe it's just me and I should learn to adjust to this new pace of life. Or maybe I should move to Curitibia, which in 2007 ranked sixth by the speeds at which people walk.
Yet, I’m generally pushing a buggy about and still manage to walk faster than the average pedestrian. And even with the buggy, I don’t take up the whole pavement. I’m usually stuck behind someone who doesn’t understand what a straight line is or behind groups that take up the whole pavement, oblivious to who or what is behind them. This is the hell that is urban pavements, as the Guardian columnist Michele Hanson, so accurately describes it.
Maybe it's just me and I should learn to adjust to this new pace of life. Or maybe I should move to Curitibia, which in 2007 ranked sixth by the speeds at which people walk.
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