Two random thoughts about London
Just got back from a few days in London and there were two random thoughts I’ve wanted to share. Neither are new, but they popped into my head during this trip and I thought, “maybe I should blog about those,” so here we are.
Thing # 1: We all know they drive on the left side of the road in the UK. This isn’t surprising anymore. What is surprising, to me at least, is every time you encounter a situation where pedestrian traffic is routed to the right. For instance, on all the escalators in the tubes it tells you to stand to the right and pass on the left. This is what we do in the US which makes it seem very wrong in the UK. Also, when you walk the streets in New York it’s a fairly standard rule that traffic stays right. In the UK I feel like you constantly see people on both sides of the sidewalk walking both directions. All of this makes me think that people naturally want to stay to the right (probably because most are right-handed). I have no idea whether this is true or not (I’m also not sure whether British folks will find this offensive, in which case I apologize). I just think you’ve got to pick one and stick to it. You wouldn’t find a random escalator or walkway in a high-traffic zone in the US where there are signs directing traffic to stay left.
Thing # 2: One of the things I really like about London is how much ground floor commercial space there is. In New York City the ground floor is almost entirely retail and office work happens somewhere between the 2nd and 100th floor. I’m not sure why I like looking in at people working, but there’s something really interesting about walking past an office window during the day. It’s just not a view you really get in New York. (I’d say this has something to do with the fact that we’re looking for a new office so I’m especially keen to see how other’s deal with their space, but this has fascinated me since well before I started a company.)
Alright, that’s it. Two very random observations.