British beach etiquette - lighthearted

[OrangeSunset]

We are on holiday on the SW. It’s packed, beaches heaving.

I totally cannot understand how much stuff people take to the beach - and each year I swear it’s getting more. Windbreaks, tents, chairs, and now a new thing….trolleys to transport all the stuff. Plus those inflatable sofa things.

The bit I find really nuts is when people position a windbreak so they can’t even see the sea! What is the point in even going to the beach if you cannot enjoy the view. Some construct almost completely circular camps.

To me, it’s the equivalent of putting your phone up at a gig and recording the whole thing instead of actually watching it.

It’s an oddly British social practice. France - towel or beach mat, an umbrella to stick in the sand for shade if really hot. These are low level and don’t create barriers across the beach for everyone else and do for dogs, kids etc requiring shade.

If it were up to me…chairs only if you are medically unable to sit on the sand. When did teenagers need a chair!

I am really hoping there is someone out there who shares my incredulity at this madness!

@MrsSkylerWhite

One of our favourite memories of a holiday is DS (accident prone) getting completely soaked (fully clothed) on both the first and last day of a fabulous holiday. The first day he had to stay in wet clothes for several hours until we got into our accomodation and got unpacked. The last day we anticipated it and had spare clothes....but often, unless an impromptu trip (which are often fun) people take enough stuff to accommodate such happenings.(yesterday DH unfathomably took a spare wetsuit with us, despite us all having 1 each!)

I grew up in Devon on the coast and my parents used to take us to the beach all the time. Such fond memories of my childhood.

My dad at one point bought a fairly big dingy to take us out in. Blew it up in the car park, chucked all the stuff in it and then as a family of 4 we each took a 'corner' and walked everything down inside our boat! Bloody genius!

I'll admit I do find it a bit of a faff with young kids sometimes but persevere in the hope they have the same fond memories! Youngest is just about old enough now for them to play amicably most of the day while we supervise from a chair with a cuppa and they are big enough to carry stuff too so the faff is reducing!

I do remember the first time we took a small beach tent and I was full of summer cold and about 10 weeks pg with our second child and it took FOREVER to put this bloody thing up!! It was so cold and windy and it just wouldn't fit together properly!

I basically sat inside it with a cup of tea trying not to vomit and crying because I felt so terrible waiting for DS1 to get bored so we could go and I could lie down!

I've finally learned the knack of getting it up but my DH always says when we put it up 'remember that day you cried because we couldn't get this up in the wind'

Those pop up tents are always a laugh to watch the uninitiated fold up

@Crunchymum

Those pop up tents are always a laugh to watch the uninitiated fold up

I have a huge one from Aldi and am a whizz at folding it. I even had applause once 🤣. I am a tiny woman so it's even more impressive.

The massive camps that take up so much space can be a bit annoying.

I’m a travel lift kind of person so usually plonk myself between the campers and the sea with just my towel and maybe a bodyboard/inflatable.

Travel light.

@MrsSkylerWhite

(Where’s the GCC?)

It’s a collection of states in the Middle East and it’s normal to see the kind of camp the previous person mentioned along with a satellite dish attached to the huge tents or a 4 x4.