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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

Original poster

to hate every single parent and child crowding up South Kensington during half term?!

324 replies

misspantomime · 17/02/2015 10:52

I work in the area and every single evening during every single school holiday it takes me 30 minutes more to get home because a) I cannot walk down the streets as they are too crowded and (b) I cannot get into South Ken station due to crowding and also due to parents letting their kids walk down the road either on scooters or at 0.00000000005 MPH and also not knowing how to use the ticket barriers properly.

I am a Londoner and we are notoriously intolerant of people who can't use the underground properly but even so I never truly knew rage until I started working round here. There are queues all the way down the road. For the fricking science museum.

OP posts:
TheFluffiestOfAll · 17/02/2015 10:55

Womp womp womp...

takes out tiny violin... GrinWink

RustyBear · 17/02/2015 10:55

YABU. But then you know that....

If you live or work in a tourist area, you just have to suck it up.

Original poster
misspantomime · 17/02/2015 10:55

every single person in my office feels exactly the same way.

OP posts:
Waffles80 · 17/02/2015 10:56
Biscuit
Original poster
misspantomime · 17/02/2015 10:56

I don't think I am BU actually. Most parents seem to lack basic understanding of anyone else around them.

OP posts:
calmexterior · 17/02/2015 10:56

YABU.

Turn that frown upside down ??

MuddhaOfSuburbia · 17/02/2015 10:56

lol

we do this BUT we get the bus and walk down Exhibition Road and swan in to the NHM with membership card like the fucking Queen of Sheba. And we're Londoners

that's allowed, innit

GoodbyeToAllOfThat · 17/02/2015 10:57

It gives me the rage, too. But we're probably being unreasonable.

I wouldn't think twice about taking my kids out of school to go to a museum so that we could enjoy it in peace, I've done it twice for relevant school projects. There is no way we will ever be at the science museum during half term.

calmexterior · 17/02/2015 10:57

AIBU?

'Yes'

No I'm not.

Hmm
GoodbyeToAllOfThat · 17/02/2015 10:58

The NHM card is the business.

Behindthepaintedgarden · 17/02/2015 10:58

YANBU to feel like that. I work in a very scenic place and in Summer I have to queue in traffic to get out onto the main road. It drives me mad, even though I totally understand that people have a perfect right to be there. It doesn't stop it annoying me though.

YWBU if you tried to do something to prevent them using the area, or if you said something rude to them.

Original poster
misspantomime · 17/02/2015 10:58

GoodbyeToAllOfThat, I know what you mean - would totally take DC out of school to enjoy museums in peace. Just looks like hell on earth during school holidays, fancy queueing for an hour just to get into the NHM...

OP posts:
aderynlas · 17/02/2015 10:59

Wait till the summer holidays begin. Save your rage. Rather see children going to the various museums and learning, than see the buildings empty.

Original poster
misspantomime · 17/02/2015 11:00

I never say anything rude to them. Although I nearly did when over the summer holidays I overheard one women (with three children on scooters) say "it's all these bloody commuters, that's why it's so busy". Erm, no, we're here every day love - it's you.

OP posts:
CatsClaus · 17/02/2015 11:00

you'd think some of them everysinglepersonintheoffice might have pondered on using one of the adjacent tube stations then, perhaps?

considering none of them are probably more than 10 minutes walk from south ken, offsetting that against the 30 minute delay of avoiding all the scooting toddlers and their rampaging MC parents would seem the logical option

Shakirasma · 17/02/2015 11:01

YABU, London is for everybody. It's our capital, the heart of out country and we are entitled to visit and share its delights with our children.

It's a city on the "to do list" of people worldwide, because it's a place of great heritage and it's a place we should be proud of.

Just because you work there all year round doesn't mean you have more rights to it than anybody else. You should be proud to share it.

GColdtimer · 17/02/2015 11:01

When I worked in Chelsea I used to go to sloane square and walk up the kings road to avoid south ken in holiday time. It is hideous.

You need to calm down though, it's only Tuesday, think of your poor blood pressure.

Original poster
misspantomime · 17/02/2015 11:02

CatsClaus actually I would deem it more reasonable for parents to use the adjacent tube stations, that's what I do with my DS as he gets upset when it's so busy.

And I should have said, I often use Gloucester road and that's also rammed in the exact same way.

OP posts:
Original poster
misspantomime · 17/02/2015 11:03

Shakirasma I'm not saying people shouldn't visit, I'm saying they should be aware of their surroundings. I've more issue with the fact that people are inconsiderate than the fact that they make the tubes busy.

OP posts:
calmexterior · 17/02/2015 11:04

I don't live and work in London because it's too crowded for me. Maybe you should work somewhere quieter if you don't like tourists? They're not going to go away.

TSSDNCOP · 17/02/2015 11:05

Farking hell how nice must yr office be.

Who knew there'd be tourists in S.Ken at HT. The NHM was only built in 1873, it's not like there's no precedent.

GoodbyeToAllOfThat · 17/02/2015 11:05

Just because you work there all year round doesn't mean you have more rights to it than anybody else. You should be proud to share it.

I used to live on Exhibition Road, back when we had only 1 kid. I didn't feel proud to share it at all during the summer and term breaks. I would step outside into heaving pedestrian traffic, the tube was a nightmare, it was very hard to get to and from work, just incredibly frustrating all around.

Of course London is for everyone, but show me any big city during its tourist season and I'll show you frustrated natives.

Original poster
misspantomime · 17/02/2015 11:06

calmexterior I love my job, just not during the school holidays Smile

OP posts:
Delilahfandango · 17/02/2015 11:06

YABU in the same way that I am when you city types descend on my rural/ seaside idyll in the summerGrinWink

angelos02 · 17/02/2015 11:06

I've managed to only have to go to London for 2 days in my entire life. Can't stand the crowds.