The green man was universal

[Quang Hai]

I am reading Midwinter Break by MacLaverty. This is the story of Gerry and Stella, a North Irish couple, in their early sixties, off on a 4-day holiday to Amsterdam. Now, wake up and does not see his wife, Gerry is going out to look for her.

"He had to cross a main road rumbling with traffic and reached out to take Stella by the hand before realising she wasn’t with him. His hand went to his pocket to disguise the empty gesture. The traffic lights changed. The green man was universal. The Irishman. This one had a little green pork-pie hat."

I totally loss my way as I can not figure out the meaning of three underlined sentences and their connection with front passage. Please could someone help me out. Thanks!

 

[Rover_KE]

The green man symbol at pedestrian crossings is known everywhere to be a signal that it's safe to cross the road.

 

[Rover_KE]

Maybe the little green man on Irish pedestrian crossings is in the form of a leprechaun (a small, elflike creature of Irish folklore).[link]

(Though I can't explain why they'd see that in Amsterdam.)

 

[Skrej]

Apparently, the green man has a hat in Berlin! It's a holdout from the days of divided Berlin. It's kind of an interesting story, actually.

Not sure if it's used/was used in the Netherlands as well, or if that's just some kind of continuity error on the author's part.

Green is also associated with Ireland, so the main character (being Irish himself) naturally views the 'green man' as Irish.


Edit: Wikipedia entry on the Ampelmännchen

 

[Tarheel]

I am reading Midwinter Break by MacLaverty. This is the story of Gerry and Stella, a North Irish couple, in their early sixties, off on a 4-day holiday to Amsterdam. He wakes up one morning and doesn't see his wife anywhere. He goes out to look for her.

"He had to cross a main road rumbling with traffic and reached out to take Stella by the hand before realising she wasn’t with him. His hand went to his pocket to disguise the empty gesture. The traffic lights changed. The green man was universal. The Irishman. This one had a little green pork-pie hat."

See above.

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