There was no way that I was going to lay my denim jacket over the puddle in the camber for the fair damsel aloft on the kerb to step on and cross the road, no matter how pretty she was. I didn’t want history to repeat itself. My head is quite happy on top of my neck. I’m also quite fond of the jacket.
And as I observed a few couples idling walking along the pavement I knew that chivalrous behaviour was for the knights. It was something my old grandmother used to say to me.
The three partnerships I saw, of varying age groups, were holding hands as they strolled. Romantic as this was, it was their positions that was all wrong. The females were situated nearest the kerb and closet to the traffic. My granny always said that the gentleman should always be placed on the outside, otherwise the man was putting the woman up for sale.
Boadicea's Chariot 
Such a shame manners are so poor in the UK these days.
I have to say that manners are far better here still in the Pacific NW. It is still commonplace for men to hold doors for women and to allow others to egress before entering buildings. Spousal unit gets totally bent out of shape if I open a door for myself when out so I have readopted the habit. Interestingly if you stop dead at a door, most men automatically open it for you! A pleasant smile and a thank you go a long way!
A pity life has been allowed to become so coarse in most places in the UK, I’m glad it has not yet ruined nice old fashioned places like Carmarthenshire yet, the answer being, blow the bridge and keep the bastards out, preferably forever!
I open doors for ladies, Christina, so I’m chivalrous in that aspect. However, when there’s only one parking space left and I drive up at the same time as a female driver to an empty bay, I hit the accelerator.
I find that manners are not poor all over the UK, Christina. I have received courtesy from many quarters, including unexpected ones. Young lads in hoodies apologising for getting in my way; threatening-looking Afro-Caribbeans giving a smile and a wave when I stop at a pedestrian crossing. Gentlemen of all ages still seem willing to open doors for me. Perhaps I just look totally decrepit!
Funny, sheona! I guess that I am only traveling through England, airports and the such are pretty notorious!
I tend to scarper for the border ASAP!
I agree with Sheona. People I bump into (!) in public places in the UK are generally polite and spatially aware. By way of contrast the average Viking is intent on keeping right at any cost and unaware of anybody else’s needs or intentions. The worst are the fatties who cherish the belief that they can pass sylph-like through the eye of a needle, dismissive of the thought that their overhangs might fail.
HOWEVER! The rules of etiquette (or is it chivalry?) vary around the world. Here for example it is considered impolite to ask a lady to go first through a door into a shop or restaurant. And if a lady enters a room full of people she is expected to introduce herself, not to wait to be greeted. Weird, I know.
But the UK airports are probably full of foreigners, Christina.
LOL!
Sheona @7 According to the UKIP the whole country is full of foreigners.
Airports? foreigners?
Wogs my dear, wogs!
Generally unrolling prayer mats
and cooking in the bogs!
I think there should be a rule that all coaches out of Heathrow should stop over the bridge to let anxious passengers alight, kiss the ground and sing Land of my Fathers!!
Brum is ghastly, that dreadful shopping centre that looks like a squashed doughnut, ghastly people pushing and shoving, mainly white or a suspicious shade of brown, how people don’t get killed on the escalators is a mystery.
(Spousal unit has just said Bull Ring alias Bear Garden!)
The boy liked some gear only available from Selfridges which is in there if you can dodge the flying plates from the sushi conveyor! My God, what a nightmare of a place! I was always SO glad to head the car West, one could just about relax by the time one got to Tenbury Wells, actually inhabited by humans with free parking on the High Street, very nice shopping, real shops, polite helpful assistants.
Kidderminster is the frontier of civilisation!
If you ask me they should rebuild Offa’s Dyke.
Christina, I imagine Enoch ‘n Eli relaxed when you shipped out to the West! They get enough grief from Londoners without the attentions of the Welsh!