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?

Dog shit in Paris - literally everywhere. Is there some kind of French Festival of Dog Shit I'm unaware of?

@SpamFrittersYouSay - that's barely scratching the surface with Colchester tbh... 😂

I've never seen such blatant drug dealing as I have in Manchester and multiple dealers working at once. I know that the city has a lot to offer but it really put me off.

Every single time I visited Nottingham city centre I've seen a rat. Around 10-12 times in 2012-2015.

In Istanbul, was walking down the street and a man barged into me and knocked me flying so hard I hit the pavement. I swear that was deliberate as well.

The foul stench emanating from the Jorvik centre in York - I'm surprised I went in at all, but I spent the first half an hour heaving and trying not to vomit on their exhibits. You can take authenticity too far.

Alice Springs in Australia - Ayres Rock area was awful. So full of homeless people and alcoholics. Very sad.

Crete - tar/oil scattered across the beaches.

Disneyworld in Florida. I went with my now ex bf who was extremely toxic and spent most of the holiday being verbally abusive and gaslighting me for every little thing whilst also being very unpleasant towards my DC. It was such a miserable holiday.

The Northern Territories in Australia filled with leery men, aggressive behaviour and generally a lot of alcohol and drug misuse. Stopped at a supermarket in Jabiru unable to buy deodorant as no aerosols could be sold....

Barcelona Spain.

Along Las Ramblas a weirdo was showing us a poor little monkey in a cage . Poor thing was scared and looked like a baby. The thieving chap wanted money for it from us.

Another day was shown the dirtiest, filthiest place on planet Earth, the Gaudy tower which was full of human faeces in every corner and nook and cranny.

Everywhere else we were shown was graced with dog poo or needles.

Spain is not a county that I will be returning to under any circumstances. Younger Sister did an internship there last year, and I made it clear that we wouldn't be visiting her there. She ended it slightly early as it was awful and her experiences only reflected my experience of the place. Yeah, it's a big country, but yuck.

Amsterdam. Overflowing rubbish literally everywhere.

God yes, was about to say this. Another place for me that came close was Whitby (getting a bit of a kicking on this thread!). Visited once years ago & went up the West cliff, and all I remember is you could barely put one foot in front of the other, there was that much shite everywhere, and loads of people letting their dogs just do giant shuddering shits on the pathways. It’s the only thing I associate with Whitby - mountains of dog shit.

Newcastle. I do the east coast mainline train a lot. If there's ever a group of drunken horrors, they ALWAYS get on or get off at Newcastle. Without fail. Regardless of time of day.

I've never actually there!

First car, first "trip" reversed into low bollard in Brighton - dented bumper on pride and joy. Discovered beach wasn't (pebbles not sand)

Persuaded to return 20yrs later with partner on "last pre-baby outing at start of maternity leave" plug dropped out, bloodbath in hotel etc - was praevia, so haemorrhage risk, spent next two days in Brighton hospital prepped for emergency caesarian 6wks early, permitted to travel home on 4th day under condition of going straight to hospital - she spent next 4 weeks in hospital, steroids etc, scares every few days. DD finally out 2wks early with emergency caesarian that turned into normal caesarian when bleeding stopped. (dd fine now yr10)

She's happy to return - me never again.

San Francisco. Air of imminent threat and menace. Felt scared the whole time we were there. Couldn't wait to leave.

"...giant shuddering shits..." 😂

I've only been to Whitby once - loved it. Scarborough is now a bit of a shithole though 😕.

Newport, Rhode Island. Very rich, popular with well heeled tourists, but public toilets are just not a thing. I spent a fairly terrifying morning walking down the lonnnnnnng roads of huge mansions trying not to crap myself while looking for somewhere, anywhere that had a toilet and was open. The only public toilet on the map had been 'winterised' (shut). It was April.

Incidentally they also have the beautiful cliff path, which is maintained individually by each of the mansion owners along the cliff, some of whom see it as a civic duty to keep the path decent and some clearly see the idea of paying for plebs to walk past their house as an outrage. It goes from well maintained to collapsed or rock piles and back again every few metres. Weird.

Along Las Ramblas a weirdo was showing us a poor little monkey in a cage . Poor thing was scared and looked like a baby. The thieving chap wanted money for it from us

OT but please let Monkey World know about this; they rescue primates from all over the world from situations like this (they are probably aware anyway but all evidence helps)

https://monkeyworld.org/wp-content/uploads/Monkey-World-Ape-Rescue-Centre-Evidence-January-2020-web-version-min.pdf

Mungo Jerry
Sunny Afternoon - the Kinks

Morecombe. While in holiday nearby, we popped into the Morrisons to buy something quickly (plasters or similar) and there was just a really weird atmosphere of seething rage in the shop. We both (separately) felt it. Was the same in the whole town generally.

we had fond memories of Oxford, returned early summer,
bus from park and ride to the High Street, shocked by how disgusting, filthy were the pavements, drunks shouting, litter. A rich town, sublime architecture but so filthy, road up to Ashmoleon pretty grim, wouldn’t even want to go again : another of life’s disappointments.

The general air of squalor I saw in Bristol earlier this year on a trip to Glastonbury.

Truly shocking, third-world-like conditions with graffiti covering every surface, dilapidated shop fronts, cars on their last legs, piles of rubbish, dirty mattresses at the side of the road and absolutely HEAVING with people. I wondered if I'd get out in one piece. So sad. I wonder how long its been like this and what the cause is. It used to be nice but looks like its now gone right down.

Isn't that something to do with ley lines?