Body Language 3

Maybe I should make clear that this series is based on my observations and interactions with Jakartans who, apart from guys who sit with legs di-splayed, appear to need less space. Perhaps this is because in this over-crowded city there is less of it available.

Whatever, having noted just the one motorcyclist looking over his shoulder as he changed lanes, it is worth commenting that pedestrians also don't bother to check whether they are on a collision course with others.

Wherever you are, on a sidewalk, in a mall or at a wedding reception, folk make a beeline to their destination. When you want to get out of a lift, expect to get trampled by folk trying to get on. They'll emerge from doorways or narrow gangs straight into the main corridor or thoroughfare without appearing to think that others might be steaming ahead.

They don't look left or right but just keep going where they think they are going, even if it's nowhere. Other folk are so unimportant that we are invisible.

In this city one really needs steelcapped boots to protect one's toes (and to kick a few shins if so inclined).

I could argue that knowledge-based schooling and cultural upbringing have provided the training necessary for this blinkered approach to life. It would also account for the disregard for the environment and the national propensity to dispose of litter in all the inappropriate places. It would also account for the excessive noise pollution.

However, this is obviously an inbred state of mind. I say obviously as it would appear that peripheral vision is not a physical attribute as it is with with race horses. .

They shoot horses, don't they?
.....................................................
I've just realised that I first commented on this topic five years ago yesterday.

Plus ça change, c’est toujours la même chose.
Stop Press
I came home to find that our new-ish neighbours from hell have decided that we should lack peripheral views.
I dedicate this post to long-time acquaintance and fellow blogger Rob Baiton, his wife Dyah and their very young son Will as they settle into their new lives in the wide open spaces of Australia, which is only a little bit down under.
 

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¶ 3:00 pm