Things that have ruined your impression of a place

[Eleventween]

We stopped off in Hereford yesterday on the way back from a family holiday. We'd had an enjoyable afternoon and had been pleasantly surprised by what a lovely city it is. Before we set off for home, we decided to get a McDonalds from the drive-through. The man in the next lane thought we'd cut out in front of him and a full road rage outburst ensued. He jumped out of his car and threatened to smash our window, hurled a torrent of abuse at DH and terrified our two preschoolers who were in the back! I'm sure that whenever I think of Hereford now, that's what I'll remember. It's really annoyed me! What is yours?

Graffiti in Rome.

🤣EPIC!!!!

This was exactly my experience of Glastonbury. {I loved alternative stuff then, too}
A really uneasy , unpleasant vibe about the place.

I couldn't wait to leave.

Have been back several times and it's always the same feeling.

I wasn't prepared for the shocking amount of homeless people in San Francisco. 1000's everywhere, completed ravaged by addiction, distressed, crying and wailing. Very, very sad.

Croatia. One of the prettiest places I’ve ever been but someone drove a motorbike at us when we were waiting to cross the road then swerved at the last minute. DH swears it was deliberate.

Years ago (pre-satnav) driving home from a meeting in the Midlands, I got lost in Chesterfield. I saw a man walking along the road and was about to stop and ask directions when he leaned over and blew his nose into the gutter. Oh Yukk.

I've avoided Chesterfield ever since.

Heading north toward Carlisle, there's this really strange truck stop which like something out of a bad horror movie. It's often deserted and the main building has sticky brown Lino on the floor and a miserable looking cafe that sells stewed tea. You get the sense that Something Bad Happened There.

Unfortunately I have written off the whole of Carlisle due to this one service station. 😂

Love your retort!

Liverpool. There with DD when she was a young teen, politely said excuse me to a man blocking the self serve tills in Sainsburys with his buggy. He screamed an endless torrent of hate filled abuse at me for wanting to get past the baby and told me to fuck off back to where I came from. Yorkshire 🙄

We were there for the weekend. The next morning I looked out of the window at a 24 hour McDonald’s, it was about 5 AM and the road was literally a foot deep in litter from Maccies. The council had cleaned it all up by 8:30 tbf but I’ve always felt uneasy in Liverpool when I’ve gone back.

Which is about twice in ten years.

Litter - anywhere.

Tiny scruffy kids in Turkey sent by parents to beg off tourists sitting in restaurants/cafes. They stood at your table staring at you with their hands out stretched while you are eating and drinking. They get shooed away by staff.
We later saw them with their much better dressed guardians. Vile way to use little children.
We saw lots of other Turkish families in a park just after a school closed for the day and thankfully witnessed very different parenting ie loving, caring, engaged, supportive etc.

Agree with Lands End. ( not been to Tintagel). What have they done to it...I was horrified when I went back about 7 years ago.......won't be back there

Graffiti. I hate it.

My post was essentially going to be about racism, as a fellow brown person it is almost guaranteed. Me and my husband now predict when it will happen, the loser has to buy the other a meal.

On Cadbury world I went on a school trip there in year seven, the woman showing us around said they could use me as the dark chocolate in a marble bar, funnily enough she didn’t feel the need to compare anyone elses skin colour to chocolate. Maybe there is some sort of pro-racist screener.

Graffiti, rats and pickpockets in Rome this summer. The whole city was filthy. I won't be rushing back.

Oxford.Beautiful in the day.Walking out of the resturant at night the whole high street was full of really drunk idiots ncluding one guy vomiting in the middle of the road, groups of lads chanting , girls crying and men pissing up the walls.Felt like a fight was going to break out any minute.

Went to Staithes for the day and every house was an Airbnb. It was also full of pretentious Sunday Times types painting at easels or playing acoustic guitars outside.

Absolute parody of itself, with all the soul stripped out of it. I hated it!

(I later realised it was where the Fast Show's Johnny Nice Painter sketch was filmed, but I'm not sure that the easel wankers knew that.)

There are plenty of other fantastic fishing villages along that coast with real character and charm, where the locals can still afford to live.

We had a similar experience a couple of weeks ago.

Haven't visited for years and was shocked how grubby the city has become. Puddles of vomit everywhere, loads of aggressive drunks/druggies leering at my teenage daughter and a general air of a neglected city.

Such a shame as I have really fond memories of Norwich.

Loch Morlich in Scotland.
The highest loch or such. Drove a long way to get there with beautiful scenery and even spotted an eagle for the first time on the way there.
Beach car park was too full, so went and parked at the next suggested place near a restaurant by the main road, only spot left....
Opened my car door and there were rotting raw sausages, about 20 scattered on the side of the pavement.
Tried to look past it, walked to the beach with no proper path, cut through at your own peril or walk along the busy main road.
Got to the beach and there's dog mess in the sand, bbqs even though not allowed. Two seperate groups had set up so they took the whole stretch from the edge of the beach to the edge of the water, so had to apologetically walk through their chairs, towels etc to go past whilst they went silent.
Went to get ice-cream and the shop had shut, on a sunny packed day.
Walked along the loch and came to a beautiful secluded spot, there was a couple with their two dogs, dog did it's business and the lady see but carried on vapping. Stood and stared her out until she reluctantly picked it up. My DH bet she'd throw it in the bushes as soon as we left.
Can you tell I'm not over it yet.... 😑.

A dead Alsatian on the railway line as we approached Prague

@oakleaffy we went to Glasto yesterday for lunch as it was Bath Uni open day combined with the Jane Austen parade (we live there) and so town was packed.

Glastonbury it seems is good for crystals, broomsticks and a bit of reiki healing and er not much else- had lunch (ok) and moved promptly on to Wells- much nicer. It's an odd and impractical place

I went to Fuerteventura on a day trip from Tenerife. Someone was sick on the floor of the bus and the vomit rolled from the front to the back where I was sitting. The town we drove through looked like a absolute hell hole, although the beach, when we got to it was lovely. The vomit has put me off ever going back, even though I've seen some great holiday deals.

@LynetteScavo You've reminded me of a campsite we went to near Newquay. After setting up our tent we ventured to the bar. A group of women came to sit at the next table, clearly pissed - from their conversation they had come down by car from up north and been drinking all the way down the M6.
About 10 minutes later, one of them vomited copiously over the table and floor.

We took the tent down next morning and found somewhere else.

I loved Staithes about twenty years ago but has changed soooo much!

Actually I didn't, I went from Lanzarote, and DH doesn't want to go back there because he ordered tomato salad and received only tomatoes. 🤷🏼‍♀️