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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

Original poster

To believe that no one can have ever possibly enjoyed the beach?

139 replies

Happybeard · 09/08/2014 14:34

I've avoided the beach since taking my then 4 and 11 year old who are now 8 and 14. I had thought that four years was long enough to have recovered from the trauma and was actually looking forward to it but having now been here for an hour can't think of a single thing that is remotely enjoyable... The stickiness, the sand EVERYWHERE no decent toilets, the sun making you sleepy but you having no chance to close your eyes in case your children drown. Plus am hideously over weight this time so am fully clothed.
Am looking around and everyone else looks miserable too. Why do we do this???

OP posts:
CoteDAzur · 09/08/2014 21:54

Swimming cap just means she doesn't want to wet her hair.

My mum wears one and doggy paddles.

PiggyPlumPie · 09/08/2014 21:56

Massive sand dunes and sledges - fabulous fun and great exercise!

CoteDAzur · 09/08/2014 22:00

Btw, I understand that the sea is more treacherous in the UK than around the Mediterranean and especially the Aegean where people just don't get pulled out to the sea.

Thread title says "no one can have ever possibly enjoyed the beach" anywhere, which is why I have been talking about some different beaches & seas.

LEMmingaround · 09/08/2014 22:02

See. I somehow knew you would pass comment on that. Hmm

LEMmingaround · 09/08/2014 22:04

But hey you know what. I love the beach. The op hates it. There is no need for snarkiness - take a chill pill

petalpowered · 09/08/2014 22:04

"Loads of people swim in the sea without being confident swimmers. Like OP's children.

Hilarious x post with OP saying her DC can swim really well!

But anyway, no need to argue with Cote - she's admitted she didn't read the thread properly and wouldn't advocate sleeping on a beach while your 8yo swims in the sea alone.

WorraLiberty · 09/08/2014 22:05

I just got back today from a week at the beach in Lowestoft, Suffolk.

We all absolutely loved it and can't wait to go back Grin

CoteDAzur · 09/08/2014 22:05

And I knew that you wouldn't comment on my post to you, asking what exactly you found "mean".

We know each other so well Wink

petalpowered · 09/08/2014 22:05

Cote - have you ever heard the term 'tongue in cheek?' I think you've totally missed the tone of the OP's thread.

iamEarthymama · 09/08/2014 22:09

We go to a wonderful beach on a Greek Island.
It had magic sand that does not stick to you!
I think it is tiny teeny pebbles rather than grains of sand.
It gets hot as hell so we have stunningly ugly rubber shoes to hop across the sand to the sea.
I love it.
I do absolutely nothing for hours every day for two weeks.
Well, I read, heaven, I swim, badly, I talk to DP, about everything, I daydream, I people watch, I love, love LOVE the beach!!
Note
No children, sun every day, no-one needs me.
All these things contribute.

However, I love UK beaches for other reasons, rock pools, having to wear an extra layer of clothes, thermos flasks, just the whole UK thing!

LEMmingaround · 09/08/2014 22:12

That is because it wasn't me that said it was mean. Put the Wine down now!

CoteDAzur · 09/08/2014 22:13

Earthy - Sounds like Santorini. That black sand gets scorching hot!

WhoKnowsWhereTheTimeGoes · 09/08/2014 22:18

It depends, a couple of half days in a week's holiday is plenty for both me and the DCs, whereas DH loves them. I agree about not being able to relax properly in case anything happens to the DCs (mine are 10 and 8), even on a Mediterranean beach with very shallow calm water I feel the need to keep an eye on them. I also need shade, I can't sit out in the sun all day and I do worry about us all getting sunburnt. I like paddling in rockpools, making sandcastles etc up to a point, but half a day is plenty long enough. I prefer them out of season or early morning or evening when the crowds are gone and the sun isn't too fierce.

CoteDAzur · 09/08/2014 22:18

LEM - Oh sorry. Your words were "Below the belt. Not nice.

What exactly did you find "below the belt" and not nice? I'm curious.

My guess is that you thought I was referring to OP being overweight when I said "only yourself to blame". Wrongly, as I was talking about her not wearing a bathing suit like everyone else.

WhoKnowsWhereTheTimeGoes · 09/08/2014 22:20

I do think there's something very relaxing about the sounds of waves washing up and down on a shingle beach though, I used to work near one and go at lunchtimes, it would have been a bad move to lie back (it was steeply shelved so you could, very comfortably), I would have been fast asleep in no time listening to that sound.

PhaedraIsMyName · 09/08/2014 23:42

There are beach holidays and beach holidays. I don't do beach holidays in the sense of 14 days in a hotel complex on the Costa del Sol (as I am an admitted snob) but l occasionally do holidays where a bit of beach is involved part of the time.

I hate swimming pools tho.

Lepaskilf · 09/08/2014 23:45

This reply has been deleted

Message withdrawn at poster's request.

zazA09Jane · 09/08/2014 23:51

I used to live up the road from a beach and it was awful. im more of a winter person I can't stand the heat and the swarms of drunken people packing the whole beach. abroad is worse!

rockybalboa · 10/08/2014 00:03

Meh, this has turned into a stealth boast. All "woe is me stuck on this boiling hot beach abroad and I'm so hot I can't even read". Bullshit. Too hot to read but not too hot to moan on MN about how "awful" your day is? You sound like a petulant child. I hope you manage to spend the rest of your lovely foreign holiday doing something more fulfilling.

TheFirmament · 10/08/2014 00:07

Surely all sand is made of teeny tiny pebbles?

Original poster
Happybeard · 10/08/2014 07:58

Sand that doesn't stick to you - now that sounds better!

I'm shocked that a couple of people are actually cross about this Grin

It's not a stealth boast, I was on a crappy tourist beach in Spain. More boasty I would say our those who live near picturesque uk beaches. Not that I think their boasting at all but I would say that's more to be envious of.

I think calling me lazy misses the point. I hate lazing around, I'm the opposite of lazy. Hence, I don't like being forced to lay on a beach all day. Because I hate the sea I don't see that as a cure for my boredom.

Anyway, with the beach day out of the way we are going to a festival today and to site see and to a lovely restaurant for lunch so I'm a happier camper GrinGrin

OP posts:
combust22 · 10/08/2014 08:10

I love it. I spent a year on a beach in Thailand. Covered in sun cream, rolling around in the sand, sand in my hair, making love in the surf- some of my best days of my life.

CoteDAzur · 10/08/2014 08:13

There will always be people cross with each other on any thread. Watch this Grin

"abroad is worse!"

You've been everywhere and seen all beaches of the world? Hmm

Or have you only been to tourist traps where hoards of British go?

Lepaskilf · 10/08/2014 08:20

This reply has been deleted

Message withdrawn at poster's request.

Original poster
Happybeard · 10/08/2014 08:22

I didn't say abroad is worse! I said that a crappy beach in Spain full of tourists is worse.

But I have been to beaches in all kinds of locations and I hate them all. This kind is the worst by miles though Hmm

OP posts: