Things No One Tells You about London: Part 3

In the US, we drive on the right, we walk on the right. It makes sense.

Before I arrived in London, I spent more time than I should have wondering, "Do people walk on the left hand side in the UK?"

Well, I have an answer to that question now.

No.

If only it were as simple as a yes or no question. In London, people walk wherever they want. Wherever. 

There is no proper side, generally speaking. However, there are a couple of situations in which Londoners do in fact pick a side. 

1. If you aren't standing on the right hand side of an escalator, the normally polite Brits will mercilessly push you out of the way. Okay, that may be a bit of an exaggeration, but seriously, just stick to the right. 

2. Going up and down stairs is less strict. However, in public places people tend to stay left on stairs. It's not a big deal if you are on the right, it just may mean swimming upstream.

3. When you are walking towards someone and have that awkward which way are we both going to go so we don't collide moment, most Brits tend to go left. Americans are used to automatically staying to the right. Either one works just fine; just knowing that more people go left than right can help a lot.