Round the forest the other day I came up behind a dog Walker. In said "excuse me", and the old boy turned in obvious surprise. As I went by he said " thank you for the warnjng", to which I replied "you're welcome Sir.". All very polite, and both cyclist and dog walker went away with a good impression of one another.
Now, living within sight of the forest I'm up there three or four times a week, and its common to see outsiders turning up from afar with their bikes on the roof of their Audi's, and then blast round the forest like Roger Ramjet with a burning turd wedged in his ring piece. I've seen riders squeeze past pedestrians at speed without warning, which is dangerous and antisocial.
Whether we like it or not, in the pecking order of society cyclists are at the bottom, below the drivers, motorbikes, walkers, axe murderers, arms dealers and estate agents. Its wrong, its unfair, but its the way it is. The only way that will ever change is for riders to be obsequiously well behaved and polite and completely remove any argument ornobjection, but it'll never happen.