A polite flick of the forefinger

Yesterday was a public holiday here in Germany, so after waiting for a shower (hurray!) to clear, I shot off to Kaiserwerth for a quick walk to Angermund in the morning.

The first part went along the narrowish path along the Rhine heading downstream, i.e. northwards. After that, I swung eastwards and was in farming country. The land to the north and west of Düsseldorf is as flat as a pancake and ideal for farming. We are, after all, close to the Netherlands.

The roads between fields are like the roads in the hills of North Wales: only wide enough for one car to travel along comfortably. As I grew up in a rural area and learnt to drive there, I know that drivers are often nervous when they approach walkers.

The polite thing to do as a walker is to stand aside a little and wait for the car to pass. This way, you're signalling to the driver: "This is where I'm going to be. I'm not going to get in your way. You can now calculate how best to drive around me."

One's patience is then rewarded by the driver raising a forefinger off the steering wheel in polite acknowledgement of your gesture, accompanied by a reciprocal nod of the head. Or at least it should be.

What I noticed about all the cars that passed me on my two hour walk yesterday was that it was only the older drivers who raised a polite finger and nodded at me. The younger drivers drove by as though I weren't there.

All I can think is that they aren't 'country folk', because whenever e been in a rural place and have stood aside to let a car pass safely, drivers have 'flicked a finger' (politely) and nodded their head in acknowledgement.

And those little gestures makes me feel all cosy inside - because it means that country folks are generally the same wherever they are.