I find friends walking abreast on crowded or narrow sidewalks everywhere, from small town to big city. For that matter, many people walking alone hold their ground regsrdless of inconvenience to othrs. I sometimes feel I do more than my share of making way on foot, but then with DH we're usually holding hands or arm in arm and so do our share of sidewalk hogging ;-)

Some people seem to hunt for reasons to hate newcomers.

PS--DGS should be napping, but I put him down (too) early as he was sick yesterday. Afterr babbling in his crib in darkened room for half an hour, He began to yell for me, and I rescued him. He's playing by himself and continuing to babble. Sometimes it sounds kind of like Chinese, other times like a Scandinavian language. the two things it never sounds like are the two languages he hears the most, English and French! but he understands a few words. He gets milk, lunch, Mommy, Daddy, elevator, ball, and puzzle. And I think garbage pail as he finds them interesting and I often have to tear him away. he just toddled off up the hall in that stiff, Frenkensteinian toddler walk, carrying a (clean) diaper and calling something like "Doo dah doi! Mgah da da day, go goi!"