The Gay Walk is a speed of walking known to queers for its strut. The Gay Walk outruns homophobia. The Gay Walk gets you places so fast you defy physics. The Gay Walk is unstoppable.
I am a fast walker, hence a Gay Walker, and many queers I encounter are also enjoyers of a fast and energetic walking speed. I am by no means saying that every queer person on the planet uses the Gay Walk, or that every Fast Walker is a Gay Walker, but there is definitely some overlap. Unfortunately, in St Andrews, Gay Walking, Fast Walking, or even Just Walking are challenges of near-death-experience proportions. I wish I was using hyperbole, but that is not the case.
Our wonderful coastal town has been my term-time home for the past three years, and even now in my fourth year, whenever I take to the streets, there is often a walking-related incident that gets my blood boiling and my teeth politely clenching. I’m by no means going to yell at people for disrespecting walking etiquette. However, I thought it would be useful to share my experiences to perhaps prompt some relatable laughs or remind some St Andrews students of the proper use of the pavement (or sidewalk if you prefer).
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| Image ID: Students walking on South Street. |
There have been many occasions that I, as a Solo Fast Walker, have had to resort to heroically leaping onto the road to avoid students walking towards me, two or three abreast. This is always a case of playing a game called ‘will they won’t they,’ where I quietly wonder to myself if they’ll accommodate a student taking the pavement at hurtling speeds. I would like to propose an estimated statistic of 95% ‘won’t they’ option choosers who remain in conversation and leave all the pressure on me to take evasive action. That is where I leap onto the road in a desperate attempt to save my momentum and stay alive.
Of course, I could simply freeze, stand still, and wait for them to correct their trajectory. Of course, I could continue at my breakneck speed and charge at their linear formation, hoping for the best. Of course, if I was just slightly more assertive, I could negotiate this situation with the least risk of life. However, I firmly believe that no conversation is good enough to warrant forgetting your surroundings.
I will agree that some pavements in St Andrews are hazardously narrow, and anyone having spent a few weeks here will be aware of which ones I’m talking about (Doubledykes Road, I’m looking at you). It would be completely reasonable to assume that a narrow walking path would encourage fellow walkers to economise space so as not to cut short the academic careers of fellow students. Unfortunately, narrow paths do not seem to increase concerns for the safety of student peers.
I try not to think about the way my body becomes a public health hazard to pedestrians and drivers alike, as I perform Olympic-level slalom between students who meander, stroll, and promenade. I would like to give the groups of students I have to avoid the benefit of the doubt and acknowledge that a three-versus-one pavement standoff will not conclude in my favour. But walking in a duo doesn't help much either.
As a regular Duo Fast Walker, these aforementioned adventurous off-pavement manoeuvres become even more complicated. You and whoever you are walking with must now coordinate evasive actions or size up the oncoming group of Walkers to consider who will give way first. On the rare occasion that both parties understand the concept of sharing public space, you walk past each other in neat rows, like goslings following mother goose. On the more likely occasion of unequal pavement use, you and often your companion will be sidelined onto a hopefully not-too-busy road until there is space for you again in a few steps. I have encountered the latter occasion far too often, and it causes my own conversation to divert towards complaining about Fellow Walkers.
Now, don’t get me wrong, I have no right to complain and will never complain about anyone using the pavement who cannot see or hear me, particularly if I’m behind them. All overtaking happens at my own risk, and as a Fast Walker I readily accept that. But surely, conversation should not impede anyone’s ability to judge space and distances — and no, I do not think that squeezing into your friend by a few inches is in any way the same as briefly accommodating for an entire person to walk past. There are so many students in this town, and visitors, and residents. If this has happened to me, I’m certain it has happened to many others. Fast Walker or not, it is important to make sure that everyone has space on the pavement. Otherwise, why do we have them at all?
By Mariya (they/them)