Jan 03 2009
in which I puzzle over some odd european differences
If you’ve read, like, more than two entries on this blog, you’ve probably noticed that about 75% of my cultural observations consist basically of “Hey, they talk different and that’s interesting.” Okay, well, not this one. Want to know one weird thing that’s different at least in England (didn’t really spend enough time in other parts of Europe to observe this elsewhere)? Crutches. Seriously.
I mean, I’ve never used crutches, but of course I know what they look like; I’ve seen lots of people using them. In England I saw zero people using crutches that looked like that. Instead I saw a lot of people using forearm crutches. Why’s that weird? Well…here, devices like that tend to be used more when a disability is permanent. It looked–not like a walker exactly, but that sort of thing, some kind of semi-permanent brace to help a person walk when they couldn’t otherwise. I just wondered why I saw so many people–many of them young, seeing as I was at UEA most of the time and all–using these things. Then one day I saw a guy using these “braces” who also had a little removable cast-shoe thing on his foot, and I finally made the connection: they’re just another kind of crutches.
Why is one kind used almost universally here and another in England? I have no idea. I suppose Wikipedia could tell me, but I’m just making random observations here. I’m too lazy to actually look this stuff up just now. :p
