elbow and flow

I am still shocked and sometimes amused by the throngs of perfectly civilized looking individuals who unabashedly hurl themselves toward the exits at the Happy Valley tram terminal. It would seem as if the back of the tram was on fire from the surge toward the exit. Old ladies stick out their elbows, helpers run over your feet with their carts, and small clusters of people pretend not to see others trying to exit from the stairs so that they don't have to wait their turn.

I sit back and watch the melee. I am not interested in some complete stranger pushing his/her body into parts of my backside that aren't usually touched by civilized individuals. I know that in less than a couple of minutes I will be passing most of this mass of bodies on the sidewalk where they will be plodding along at the pace of the slowest of tree sloths. I will think to myself as I pass, "you people are ridiculous!"

There has to be some middle ground between emergency and no sense of urgency.