Monday December 11th 2017

The weather in Las Vegas is in a nice rut. The temperature gets down into the thirties at night and peaks in the sixties during the day. These daytime highs continue to be above normal.

The big task for the day was resupplying the kitchen. I made a big grocery run to the Super Walmart in Henderson NV. The pictures in this blog post are from yesterdays visit to the center of the Las Vegas Strip.

Tunnel to the north pole at the Bellagio Conservatory.

Christmas tree in the Caesars Palace Lobby.

Christmas tree display in the Crystals Mall.

While I was negotiating the thick crowds along the Las Vegas strip yesterday, I had a lot of thoughts about my fellow pedestrians. Some of them good, but most of them total puzzlement. I suspect that the behavior is totally different than their normal daily behavior. I saw lots of different characteristics.

• The most common annoying behavior is the groups of three or more people that travel abreast slowly down the sidewalk. If you are behind them it is impossible to get by without rudely knocking them over. If you’re heading for the group from the other direction, they rarely move over. Usually you have to force your way between people or stop in your track and force them to go around you. Do you think they drive similarly?
• A variation on the slow traveling mob is the group that stops dead in the middle of the walkway to have a discussion. Why can’t they move to the side of the sidewalk? Everybody following has to stop or dodge around them. The worst variation on the stopping scenario is the people that stop at the top or bottom of an escalator. Stopping for the people coming behind them is not an option. I always worry about pick pockets or snatchers in these situations.
• Another annoying behavior is the person that suddenly changes direction. They always seem to forget to look around before turning into the path of others. Laser vision and confidence that everyone will get out of their way seem to be the thought process.
• Then there is the pedestrian that is in a hurry to get somewhere. They seem to weave in an out of traffic often cutting others off in the process. Sadly, I’m often in this group.
• Cell phones introduce another class of walkers. A phone to the ear holding a conversation as they walk produces a totally unaware pedestrian. This is accentuated when the pedestrian is doing something like texting on the phone.
• I didn’t encounter many parents with strollers yesterday, but they can be a real danger. What I did see yesterday were parents holding there kids hands while they hurry along. Some of the parents seem to forget that the child can’t move as fast and also takes up space. One mom holding a little boys hand passed a traveling group so close that the boy was dragged into the back of one of the groups members. Again I wondered about the kid being a pick pocket. He clearly wasn’t in this case.

In general I don’t think people exhibit the same level of patience and aggression when walking in crowds. There is a time for both. The biggest thing about these crowds in particular is to be aware of your surroundings. If you want to look at the sights step to the side of the walkway, preferable with your back to a wall and look at the sights from there. The same applies to decisions on what direction to go.   END of RANT.