One of the drawbacks of driving an ice cream van?
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Keep your Claxon to yourself.
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Maybe its the sheep flock instinct with cars. That’s why they have to queue up behind each other on motorways. I think they were born and grew up that way parking in large flocks next to each other for the warmth. If they parked in a secluded spot they imagine they might be raped or something!
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This drives me crazy. But it’s not a human nature thing. It has to do with customs or culture or something. I lived in a place where no one would do this. If you parked somewhere, they would leave as many spaces as were available between cars.
In another place I lived, if the whole lot is empty in a 50 car lot, the next person would park the closest they could to me.
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It’s a car park, whether someone parks next to me or twenty places away is of no concern to me as long as my car is still there when I return and I can open my door to get in.
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IMO, it’s definitely the pack instinct of simple minded creatures … 
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Some people don’t understand the concept of personal space. I think it’s very strange but I suppose they think I’m strange if I go and sit on my own.
The worst time they do it is when I’m in a public toilet cubicle and someone comes into the cubicle next to you when there’s loads of others to choose from. That really puts me off 
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I think it’s definitely cultural and a Brit thing to dislike it
I lived in the Greek islands many years ago and back then it was just their thing to be social and sit together ( no cars)
On the bus, for example, they didn’t do the Brit thing of all sitting separately in double seats on their own. They all crowded together in one area of the bus and if you were sat on your own with an empty seat next to you they’d sit next to you and talk, even if there were empty double seats available
Same in the tavernas, they’d choose to sit at tables next to other people all together creating a crowded area and leaving half the taverna empty, rather than spread out and eat isolated!
It took a while but you got used to it, along with having complete strangers asking you about your health, your marital status snd how much you earn!
The car parking thing might just be people with orderly minds thinking it’s sensible to create a row rather than all parking randomly
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I think you’re right. I remember when I visited my brother in the UK and I would walk into town or to the shops. It is a habit to say, “g’day” or “how ya goin” to everybody you pass and one does it without thinking. I recall the shock, almost horror, on the faces of some people I passed when I spoke to them (not all).
Also chatting to the checkout chicks apparently is not done, they were very abrupt.
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That might be just a town thing. If you are walking along a footpath in the country or through the woods people you meet are more likely to say ‘Hello’, ‘Good Morning’ or even just smile a greeting.
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Nahh, the ignorants and can’t be arsed are everywhere or, all the gregarious folk are agoraphobic?!!
Quite … 
How many people do we pass by on average every day? Is there any research on that?
ChatGPT
The number of people you pass by on average every day can vary greatly depending on where you live, work, and spend your time. Some research suggests that in urban areas, the average person may pass by around 1,000 people per day. However, this number can be much lower in more rural or suburban areas. Factors such as the time of day, day of the week, and even the weather can also affect the number of people you pass by.It’s worth noting that this research is likely based on estimates and projections rather than actual counts, and the number of people you pass by in your own life may be different. Additionally, the COVID-19 pandemic has had a significant impact on the number of people we come into contact with, with many people spending more time at home and avoiding crowded public spaces.
Today, I was working from home (in a small town (pop 18,000)) but I walked to the local supermarket at 1800, after “rush hour”, to purchase some essentials. IIRC, I encountered 57 individuals, i.e. face-to-face, in the space of 30 minutes. I shall take a count on a pre-Xmas Saturday afternoon walkabout but would expect that number then to be in the hundreds.
When I worked in the Town Hall of a nearby (very popular) seaside resort I would certainly have encountered thousands per day of the 20,000,000 per year who visited the town plus dozens of council employees … horrific when I think about it - no wonder that I took to the wilds when I retired … 
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Oh no! 
. I’ve become a Brit! 
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Crocodile Dundee, hmmm
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Indeed:
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If I’m parking somewhere I regularly go I always park in the same place, or as near as I can, so I can remember where I left it…
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If I park in a multistory carpark (a rare occurrence) then I take a picture of the section ID with my phone so I can find my car again.
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Another problem is the small size of parking spaces, bearing in mind the size of some cars these days. Therefore, you are always in danger of getting your car doors “Dinged”. I always try and park next to new or nearly new cars, in the hope that their drivers are that little bit more careful, when exiting said vehicles.
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You raise a hot topic here. Currently, the national standard for on-street parking spaces is 2.4–2.6 metres wide and 5.4 metres long but in car parks it averages 2.5m wide by 5.5m long (depends on the width of the aisle and the council area).
These spaces are becoming too small for the current range of vehicles with dual cab utes and SUVs outselling cars 3:1. These vehicles are 5.4 metres long (mine just squeezes into my 6 metre garage with centimetres to spare) and I know from sad experience that two utes parked next to each other in the centre of their parking space cannot open their doors.
I will tell you a funny story from when I lived in Sydney in the 1970s. In those days the average Australian family car was a Holden Kingwood or a Ford Fairlane, large cars by UK standards then but normal for here and small by today’s standards.
There were few if any multi storey car parks and a supermarket built one in a suburb called Marrickville using a UK design. When it completed it was immediately apparent that it was too small, the cars couldn’t fit in the parking spaces without a lot of toing and froing. Even worse they could not get round the corners in the ramps and aisles in one go and all the pillars and kerbs were gouged and battered from cars scraping them.
After about six months the carpark was demolished and rebuilt to fit the Australian cars.
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That’s what I do !
Never park next to white van man
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