Hail!

If NYC is the city for hailing cabs, London is the Mecca for all those whom love to hail busses. I've been watching over the past few weeks and noticed a remarkable phenomenon of how Londoners hail busses. It's a veritable sport in it's self!

Tall arm hail:
Subject extends arm above head as if the bus conductor was driving seated on the upper deck, fearing that if it is not raised quite high enough, the conductor will not see them. Alternately this maneuver can be seen as the subject anxiously raising their hand as in to ask a really important question to the approaching London transport vehicle.

The Sly hail:
Subject slyly extends the bare minimum of hand necessary in order to hail bus. Generally it is only the palm that is put forth as if there was a secret drug transaction about to occur.

The Standard straight arm hail:
Subject extends arm in a stiff outward manor at about a 45 degree angle, various finger positioning has been noted but on the most part, this is a text book hail.

The Point hail:
Subject extends arm at standard straight arm height then accentuates the hail with a very marked point of the finger as in a very confident attempt to get the bus to stop at the exact position in which their finger is pointing. This can also be coupled with the subject making direct eye contact with the driver, this variation of the point hail can sometimes be quite effective some conductors have actually been spotting taking heed to the subject's instructions and stopping at the exact point where the subject is pointing.

The extenda-hail:
Subject extends arm as if frozen in time, long after it's quite obvious that the conductor has spotted his request and is clearly pulling over to stop. From what I can tell it seems like the subject is very untrusting and had a bad experience with a rogue conductor who once foxed them into thinking that they were stopping and then pulled away again suddenly because the hail was not long enough. (please note: this is one of the most common hails)

The group hail:
As if all players on separate teams multiple subjects standing at the same stop have been spotted throwing out all sorts of various hails. Oblivious to one and other's motions, it seems as if each party feels that their hail is the one that is going to stop the bus.

The no hail:
Subject is generally foreign (or too busy noting bizarre hailing behavior) no arm movement is noted. Bus stops without a problem, sometimes right in front of the no hailer to generally the amazement of the rest of the parties at the stop. Some aggression can be noted as the hailers feel a sense of deceit as if all their hailing efforts were in vain.