I just don't understand people - part 3

This morning, I was walking along the broad road around the corner that takes me to the library. It's that road where, a couple of months ago, a father said he couldn't cycle on the broad cycle path (wide enough for two bikes side by side and separated from the road by a grass verge and trees) because he had his son with him, which was why he had to cycle straight at me on the pavement.

And again, there's a cyclist heading straight towards me on the path for pedestrians. An old man. A man who looked like he'd come from some small village, so, thinking that he might not know about cycle paths, I pointed to the cycle path and said, "That's the cycle path." 

And he stops right in front of me and says, "Haben Sie Platz?" ("Have you got space?")

"That's not the point," I replied. And he kept repeating, "Haben Sie Platz? Haben Sie Platz?"

"Look," I said, moving to the cycle lane. "Should I walk here? Should I walk on the cycle path?" 

And he kept repeating his question., even though he had just passed a large symbol of a white bike painted on a red background on the cycle path to make it clear to even the thickest of road users that that was a cycle path. Meant for bikes. 

And then what did he do? Did he cycle away on the cycle path? No. He got off his bike and pushed it along the path meant for pedestrians. 

I just don't understand people. If the criterium for using the pavement is whether or not there is space for other people, then motorbikes can ride along pavements - and through parks and woodland, too. Hell, the Koenigsallee in Dusseldorf has a pavement on one side of the avenue that is broad enough for cars to drive along. Should they? After all, when the pedestrians protest, the drivers can still shout out of their windows, "Haben Sie Platz?"