I'm thinking of starting my own course in Pavement Etiquette.
I used to assume I was the root of the problem; that I was an inept pedestrian. I've since learnt that this isn't the case. It's everyone else. No-one knows where they're going.
The instance that signposted this to me the most happened a few weeks ago, when I got off the train from London to Hitchin after a casting, at the exact moment that secondary schools were turfing their students out. I walked along the narrow pathway out of the station that runs along a main road, straight into the path of a gang of kids spread out across the pavement. When I reached them, they made absolutely no attempt to move over and let me past. There was no malice behind it (it was probably down to their teenage lack of empathy). It just wasn't a consideration. My only option was to step into the main road; something I did both grudgingly and swearingly.
It's not just the younger generation (am I old enough to say this?) that should know better. It's an affliction with no age barrier. On any given day, you'll be confronted by someone walking one way while looking another, or stopping suddenly for no apparent reason, or managing to fill the entire width of the pavement while moving at an unearthly slow pace. It's survival of the fittest, with each man for himself. Politeness is a weakness.
Perhaps I'll buy a Segway. I'd look ridiculous using it, but at least people would move out of the way.