Casual indifference and rules of the road

I've noticed a new phenomenon here in Hamburg, specifically. Deutschland, in general. Bike riding is riddled with nuances that I am slowly coming to understand. Here's one: don't make eye contact with oncoming traffic. This is particularly true if you are riding with the right-of-way. By that, I mean you are riding in the bike path on the right (as opposed to left. Or wrong, really) side of the road. The point is, you are cruising along on the right side of the road, and someone, who is clearly breaking German rules, is riding in your direction (the wrong way). If you make eye contact, you have officially issued a challenge and the process becomes a game of chicken. And if you make room on the path, you lose. Really, you lose either way - because Germans don't really concede once the game is on. I think they'd rather wreck.

On the other hand, if, in your peripheral vision, you see an oncoming bike (wrong direction, necessarily) but don't acknowledge it or the rider, the person on the bike will obligingly get out of the way, no questions asked. No crash risked. Hmmm...

This leads me to the casual indifference that I feel like is the common approach for German drivers/pedestrians/strangers in general. No one is malicious. Not that I can tell. And people are much more patient. You really don't experience road range or even agitated honking, really. The most I have seen, when I, due to narrow or crowded streets, block traffic, is that people (especially station wagon drivers) will rev their engines as they pass me and shifting gears really quickly. That's it. No one intentionally crowds you out or cuts you off. Just casual indifference.

Same thing when you are walking on the sidewalk. Mostly, you look straight ahead. No gratuitous head nod or brief welcome smile. No real greeting at all. I'll catch people shooting sideways glances if, for whatever reason, I am somehow interesting (or weird). I'm mostly voting on weird, because I usually

try to make eye contact and maybe even smile. :-)

Dog people are only slightly different. There are the occassional kooks who want their dog to play with Stella. They march right up and ask if Stella is a girl. When I say yes, they let their dog off the leash and Stella goes to great lengths to avoid the offending dog. Unless it's Max. Max is Stella's Deutsch-love. He is a small-ish shiny black dog who does not participate in butt-sniffing (which suits Stella extra-fine). Instead, Max likes to be chased. Fast. If you've met Stella, you'll understand what utter bliss this instills in our predator-dog. She'll chase Max until I or Max's owner breaks it up. We haven't seen Max in a few days. Hopefully he's not on vacation.

What else?

Deutsch class is over!! Woo-hoo. I can't even begin to tell you. All kinds of time on my hands. Nice.

J-Amy arrive Wednesday. It's a good time since Deutsch class is over and it's festival time here in Germany. Street fests every weekend. There is one a block from here this weekend. It should be heaps of fun.

Autumn is in the air - you can feel it and the leaves are changing (yes, already). It's not yet September and the air is crisp and cool and getting cooler. Oye. I hope the Autumn is a long one.