Passing on the Wrong Side

Drivers in New Zealand ride on the left. When Mark and I would walk across a street at an intersection, we looked left and right and up and back and left and right again before venturing out in the street, unfamiliar which way traffic was approaching. After 10 days or so in the country we got used to it and on trails took the customary left side when meeting other hikers heading in the opposite direction. When we’d meet someone head-on while we were walking on the left and the other party on their right, we figured they were Americans not yet used to the left lane travel.

I just made a trip to the cafeteria here at work to return my lunch tray, and I find that I am meeting co-workers head on as I’ve grown accustomed to walking on the left. How easily our habits change. I’ll be back to the “right” way of doing things before long.