Social Distancing Etiquette

When I was a lad, and you went for a walk in the countryside, everybody you passed said hello or something, because that's what they did in the country, but it wasn't so common in urban areas. That generally lapsed. More recently, when doing longer walks away from home, such as when we walked the Thames Path, we tried to be friendly to people we encountered, especially in the countryside. We began to notice that it was other long-distance (or otherwise holidaying) walkers - as distinguished by clothes, rucksacks etc. - who would say something. Dog-walkers and other locals to the area were less likely to respond. Country people no longer said hello at passers.

Social distancing has introduced a whole new etiquette of politeness. When we meet somebody, both sides make efforts to maintain our two metre separation, and saying hello to strangers has become common once again. Why? First, because we're all in lockdown so it's more sympathetic to say something to people when this may be their only interaction all day. Second, it's like an apology for giving them a wide berth - I'm staying away from you because we have to, but not because I want to avoid you.

We've noticed another convention in this social distancing etiquette, which we started doing ourselves, but noticed others are doing it, too. When approaching people on a pavement which is too narrow to social distance on the pavement, it is those facing oncoming traffic who step into the road. Common sense really.