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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

Original poster

AIBU in thinking some people have no manners when it comes to parades.

31 replies

Dizzybintess · 13/11/2016 14:35

We did the remembrance parade today with my guides and our girls were a credit to us.

We were one of the last groups on the March and this year I was so upset, we had 2 sets of public families decide to cross to the other side of the road in front of us. They literally walked through the parade. They would not have had to wait long should they have had the patience to wait as there was only 2 scout groups and a police escort behind us.

It happened on 2 separate occasions, including one lady literally elbowing her way past me!!! The kids had to slow on both occasions. I found it super disrespectful.
We then went into a service in our memorial hall and there is limited seating and we literally had the public barging past the guides to get to the seats we had 10 year olds broken off from the group all confused.
There was one family behind us and one of their phones went off playing "who let the dogs out" it was really loud.

I appreciate people come to these things but AIBU in thinking they should have some respect.

OP posts:
RitchyBestingFace · 13/11/2016 14:40

YANBU about the behaviour at the service. YABU about the families crossing a parade on what I assume is a public road.

MrsRabbitsTwin · 13/11/2016 14:44

Get stewards to organise breaks in the march for people to get through the parade and sort a reserved seating area for parade participants for next year.

ILostItInTheEarlyNineties · 13/11/2016 14:45

You'll always get a few inconsiderate people but on the whole it sounds as though it went well. I don't think you should be upset, I'm sure there were plenty of people who were considerate and appreciated your efforts so concentrate on the positives. Smile
I think you have to expect a little disruption on public paths.

Original poster
Dizzybintess · 13/11/2016 14:50

Most of the public were fine. It went well from the perspective of our unit and the girls enjoyed being part of it. Even though it's a public road most people would never dream of crossing when there is a parade.

OP posts:
Teacakequeen · 13/11/2016 14:52

YANBU. I think it's really disrespectful to cross when there's a parade on. The roads are usually closed to cars so access is restricted. Some people's behaviour in church is terrible.Where do they think they are?

Elland · 13/11/2016 14:57

A women brought her son who was about 8 or 9 to the Cenotaph service this morning with 3 large nerf guns and he was wandering about pretending to shoot people!

SistersOfPercy · 13/11/2016 15:32

People are morons.

DD''s cadets from a few years ago. Normally they surround it, but this particular fuckwit decided it was better to park his bike there than the huge empty car park 100 yards away.

AIBU in thinking some people have no manners when it comes to parades.
BubbleGumBubble · 13/11/2016 15:41

Very large parade in our town today that follows the same path every year. The police attend as they close part of the road for the march.
There was a family (mum dad 2 kids) in a car arguing with the policeman that he should be allowed past as he lives down the road. Police explained the parade was on and it would be 20 minutes more. Guy still argued he had a right to drive down that street and the parade should move aside.
Copper smiled turned his back on the car and directed the police van to park across the junction. Grin

Mumzypopz · 13/11/2016 16:35

At a service we went to, there was a mum behind us with two small boys..she had brought two bags of Lego bits to keep them company.....they proceeded to drop stuff all over the stone floor and scrape it all around....not a good choice....

Mumzypopz · 13/11/2016 16:36

Then there were people who brought digs to the outside ceremony....so the minutes silence was disrupted by them grunting and barking away.

Mumzypopz · 13/11/2016 16:37

Dogs, not digs..sorry

Original poster
Dizzybintess · 13/11/2016 16:47

I swear some people have absolutely no common sense of decorum. You wouldn't barge past the servicemen and women so why would you push past other uniformed members! I can't believe someone thought it was appropriate to let their child bring a nerf gun to a ceremony that would have veterans who's comrades would have been killed by gunfire!!

OP posts:
Original poster
Dizzybintess · 13/11/2016 16:48

I can't believe someone would park a motorbike against the cenotaph on the day!! What a douche!!!

OP posts:
IcedVanillaLatte · 13/11/2016 16:55

Depends how long you were going to take. If genuinely only about a minute, and it would've been clear to them it was only going to be a minute, them it wasn't very polite if them to cross. If longer, then I can kind of see where they were coming from. I was at a university open day a month or two ago where a group of current students were doing a dance routine in the middle of one of the buildings. I wouldn't normally dream of interrupting but I had a place I needed to be, didn't want to be late and they were taking up literally the entire space. Was about to nip across behind the person filming when she moved back up against the wall - groups of us standing around with no way to get past. I waited a good five minutes, with no idea how long it was going to last, but eventually went to myself "fuck it" and walked between the camera and the dancers. I felt bad about spoiling their video but FFS.

Original poster
Dizzybintess · 13/11/2016 16:57

That's understandable but it would have literally taken less than a minute to wait until the parade had passed. We had one small scout group behind us and a police escort van.

OP posts:
Original poster
Dizzybintess · 13/11/2016 16:57

They also didn't seem to be in a rush anywhere they just wanted a better view from the other side.

OP posts:
Original poster
Dizzybintess · 13/11/2016 16:59

One guide leader I know said that today in their town they had a group of teenagers on bikes and skateboards weaving in between little cubs and brownies and shouting obscenities.

OP posts:
IcedVanillaLatte · 13/11/2016 17:00

It down sound pretty cunty of them. Especially just to watch the parade from a better angle Hmm I was thinking maybe in terms of getting to medical appointments etc Grin

IcedVanillaLatte · 13/11/2016 17:09

*does sound

Original poster
Dizzybintess · 13/11/2016 17:16

Definitely cunty and I never use that word!! We had one guide With autism at the front and the rudeness of it really upset her.

OP posts:
pontificationcentral · 13/11/2016 17:19

It happens here too. But tbh the parade organizers are no better. The Legion always March off down the road without even waiting the two minutes it takes for everyone else to form up. So (our parade was on Friday) we all had to sprint down the street after them, dodging random members of the public, in order to catch up. The scouts were behind us, also running. This year they outdid themselves and didn't even wait for the cadets (who are normally right behind the legion and police as a military youth organization) so the cadets were the last ones to get to the cenotaph.
We have an indoor service first, and every year I have to get in ahead of girls and pick a likely looking spot for them to sit as every year it hasn't occurred to the organizers that there are youth organizations in the parade.
Every year I have to make a decision whether to approach the Legion formally and request they sit down with the community and discuss what they want to happen. (The rhetoric that it is a community event for remembrance is a bit hollow when you don't even allow the parade to form up before you March off). Every year I give up, because they seem to believe that the community are very much there to play second fiddle and don't actually seem to care whether we are there or not (except for the invoice they send us for the privilege of laying a wreath at the service).
We will of course continue to attend - it's important that our youth members understand the point of the service, and that they see it as a community event - but it is getting harder and harder to reconcile that our presence is even tolerated as the organization of the event deteriorates further and further.
It's not as though the parade is long. It literally takes two minutes max for the entire thing to pass (we have a small legion colour party, police, cadets, and about twenty kids from scouts and guides). The public just wander in the road as they make their way to the cenotaph. There is no one in the street who isn't going to the same place, but they can't even let the parade past and form up, and follow them. It's bizarre.

Original poster
Dizzybintess · 13/11/2016 17:26

That sounds like an awful shambles!!!! The organisers need to definitely improve that!

OP posts:
megletthesecond · 13/11/2016 17:30

Ell the Nerf gun Shock .

Original poster
Dizzybintess · 13/11/2016 17:30

Up until recently we could never get any of our guides to attend the indoor bit as there was a minister who did the service who was definitely on his way to to his 100th birthday. The service was supposed to end at 12 every year. And each time I would have to text the parents to apologise that it had run half an hour over. He would go on and on and on and on!! To kids as young as 5! And it was real fire and brimstone stuff. I had one guide who was Muslim and her grandad was a Ghurka so she really wanted to be there. Sadly after one service she has never come again and I can't say I blame her. Thankfully the last 2 years have been a young chap and we were out on time today x

OP posts:
RandomMess · 13/11/2016 17:32

I was there as a member of the public. One woman vaped the whole way through for over an hour Angry - every time I moved away she bl**dy followed me. It was sardine like so I now stink of her vape. Then someone decide to light up their pipe FFS!!!

Fortunately the multitude of dogs were all well behaved.