Time to Cross the Street

Spaniards generally tend to be a loud, expressive bunch who don’t bother too much with personal space. When enjoying a tapa and caña at a bar somewhere, for example, it is not unusual to find yourself quite literally in the middle of a conversation.  One stranger on your left talking to the person on your right.  Lean forward or back to take a bite or a sip and the conversation floats around you, filling up any space you’ve left behind.

There’s no worry that you might overhear their conversation (excellent for practicing Spanish) or that you’d mind if they just drape their coat over the back of your chair or lean against the arm a little bit.  It’s been a long day and their friend is on the other side of you, after all, so they energy to speak a bit more loudly and project over you.

This is why the crosswalk situation in Madrid is baffling.

Take, for example, a group of people waiting at a crosswalk along calle Castellana, the long road that cuts Madrid in half.   Even on weekday mornings (aka rush-hour) there is no real jockeying for position to be the first to dart across the street and gain five, ten, twenty seconds over everyone else.

Rather, people wait calmly for the walk signal to turn green before crossing the street.  In fact, they do so a full six feet back from the road, with enough space between them that I can stretch out my arms and do a proper Julie Andrews twirls without crashing into anyone.

Of course, this means that as someone from the US Northeast, I can easily do my thing and weave around and between people and get to the front of the crosswalk.  I can dart across the street before anyone else.  I can win in the game of five, ten, twenty seconds.

But it all makes eavesdropping rather difficult.  When people are standing so far apart, it is difficult to (over)hear their conversation – which is a pity because I need to practice my street Spanish.  Not to mention, conversations tend to be more interesting on foot, when pushed by the urgency of momentum.