Hallway Lanes

I only have an hour for lunch to go from my desk in the library to the locker room, get changed, go to the fitness room and run, then an extremely quick cold shower, dress, and back to the library. If I really stick to my hour I can't do more than a three mile run, at least not at my current pace. I take a mostly cold shower because it's the only hope I have of not sweating profusely while trying to get dressed and back to the library.

It kind of reminds me of gym class in high school. If you really worked out during the class, maybe playing basketball or flag football, there was no way of showering, dressing and still not sweating since it was only a 40+ minute class. Even then I was usually the gross kid whose shirt didn't dry for two periods. Combine that with some acne, social awkwardness, and braces and you've got one young man who wasn't part of the elite, popular crowd.

Due to the time limits I try to walk quickly down the hallways from the locker room back to the library. Today I realized we need wider halls with lanes in them. One lane for fast walkers (me at lunch time), one lane for cell phone users, the texting and walking is ridiculous, just like drivers and cell phones. At least the cell phone walkers can't kill me though, unlike the drivers. Then we need another lane for the amblers. These are the people who walk so slowly it's annoying. Usually they are in pairs or a set of three so getting around them is almost impossible. The halls aren't wide enough to get by them, especially if someone is coming from the other direction.

Maybe the amblers have no real place to be in a certain time. They're just hanging out, talking nonsense, strolling along. I guess that's acceptable, and I try not to be jealous of their freedom, but at least look around and see if some old curmudgeon needs to get by. Learn some courtesy otherwise a sweaty, socially awkward old man might just start loudly mumbling, grumbling and swearing.