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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

Original poster

Seadide stupidly busy

576 replies

mummydoris2006 · 20/05/2020 16:22

I live in a seaside resort (Slegness) and today it is absolutely heaving with people. I understand new guidelines say you can drive and enjoy the beach etc for the day but people are really taking the Mickey!

The beach has human excrement on it, the queues for supermarkets are worse as people are queing hoping they can use the toilet and one person even knocked on a residents door and asked if his pregnant girlfriend could use the toilet. Upon being told no he told the homeowner they were out of order as she was pregnant and they'd drove from Essex.

I keep seeing threads where people that live by the sea etc are being slated for not welcoming visitors but the reality is due to the amount of people flocking to the coast we can't safely enjoy our own hometown, the streets are far to narrow to be able to stay 2m away from people with the influx of visitors.If any local dares to comment we are immediately hit with the "you wouldn't have jobs if it wasnt for us". Neither my own or any of my families jobs are tourist reliant and amazingly we manage to keep our economy going well enough during the winter months.

I understand people want a bit of normality and it's really hard on children but surely you should respect the place you visit and as people that live here all year round we should be able to safely enjoy our own hometown.

OP posts:
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10
VenusTiger · 20/05/2020 19:31

I don't see anything wrong in that photo @Tableclothing - look at all the spacing between folk - what's wrong with everyone?! Has isolating and lockdown turned us all into baby-brained, anti-social baffoons?!

Being outside is perfectly safe now - we've been advised this by scientists - everyone needs to get a grip.

Wheresthesanitygone · 20/05/2020 19:32

We went to a Yorkshire beach on Saturday, arrived at 9am, walked 6 miles along it to a town, one of us went in the bakers, walked back. Touched nothing other than with our feet. Came within 2m of nobody. The beach is actually probably the widest footpath you’ll find and it was lovely. I wouldn’t have gone today knowing it was going to be hot, but even when it’s busy the beach is big enough to take everybody safely, it’s only the car parks and toilets still being shut that would have put me off going.

ToffeeYoghurt · 20/05/2020 19:32

I thought London had ZERO new cases ?
Yes. Perhaps Londoners need to tell the rest of the UK to Stay Away.

FlamingoAndJohn · 20/05/2020 19:34

Just because it’s legal to do something it doesn’t mean it’s a good idea.
Why anyone with more brain cells that a potato would drive miles to the beach I don’t know.

OneandTwenty · 20/05/2020 19:35

I thought London had ZERO new cases

that would be unbelievably good news. Looking at the overcrowding in public transport, unlimited arrivals from abroad and all that, I am not celebrating just yet.

PhilCornwall1 · 20/05/2020 19:37

@Inkpaperstars

I'm thinking of it two ways:

  1. herd immunity by stealth. If people kick it in high numbers again, he can say "not my fault, told you to stay alert and you didn't". Little blame there.

  2. he wants the lockdown over, but doesn't want to say that (has to think of his political career), so gently get the public to do it for him. The only two things that need to happen now is schools back and non-essential shops open for it to be almost normal.

Judging by the teaching unions, shops will go first, people want their jobs. Schools, well Christ knows whilst the unions have got their teeth into it.

Oh shit!!! I just read all that back, I sound like Dominic Cummings! ShockShock

panicstationsready · 20/05/2020 19:39

I live in the SW and we currently have a low infection rate - so what happens when the sun comes out? Hoards of idiots from Birmingham (very high infection rate) drive down to Weston super Mare and sit on the f*ing beach!! Give it a few weeks and no doubt the hospital at Weston will see an influx of Covid cases. Mind you did make me laugh when ITV (I think) interviewed a woman who had driven for miles to go to Lulworth Cove and was horrified at how busy it was. She obviously thought she should have the place to herself! And she really couldn't see the irony...

GrandAltogetherSo · 20/05/2020 19:40

People are seriously suggesting that public toilets should be open DURING A PANDEMIC?

Fucking hell. Have you lost your mind?

cologne4711 · 20/05/2020 19:41

I am staggered that people want to drive miles to a crowded beach and skirt around other people or poo on the beach, long queues for the few loos that are open. The great British day out

Quite. How can anyone spend a WHOLE DAY on a beach? I am bored after about 10 minutes.

Devlesko · 20/05/2020 19:41

Good, means hopefully they'll be the next casualties, natural selection at play.

cologne4711 · 20/05/2020 19:41

People are seriously suggesting that public toilets should be open DURING A PANDEMIC

I hope so. Otherwise we'll have a whole different public health problem.

cyclingmad · 20/05/2020 19:43

Yes london and the southeast has been reported to have zero new cases in the last 24hrs

Quite frankly if people are too stupid to find out if toilets are open and then do it on public on a beach, there is no helping those people and the low level of intelligence they possess. Common sense is no longer prevalent in people they have been dumbed down so much to have to be spoon fed every tidbit of information to the letter otherwise it is always someone else's fault.

Councils have had all this time to think of how they would have to reopen things up si no excuses there either.

cologne4711 · 20/05/2020 19:45

By the way - I live in the Midlands. My car was originally registered in Glasgow I think it was - fail on that plan as well

I always laugh when people talk about "local" numberplates.

We don't have them in the UK! It's not like Germany where you have to register your car in your place of residence (within a year of moving I think). So for example if you live in Frankfurt your numberplate starts with a F. It's nowhere near that obvious in the UK.

One of our cars was registered in Devon first and has the garage and Brixham on the numberplate, so that would confuse the local grockle-hunter if we were down there. But our other car has nothing.

cologne4711 · 20/05/2020 19:47

Quite frankly if people are too stupid to find out if toilets are open and then do it on public on a beach, there is no helping those people and the low level of intelligence they possess

Where is all this information about loos being open or not? Are councils so well organised that they keep websites up to date? I think not.

And don't cleaners tog themselves up at the best of times? Surely a mask and gloves is basic for someone cleaning public loos even outside a pandemic. You'd be mad to do it without.

Clymene · 20/05/2020 19:51

@cologne4711 - it's very prominently displayed on our council website yes.

Because we're a tourist destination, public toilets are more important than in many places.

And given that they're shut across the country, it really shouldn't be beyond the war of someone who has passed a driving test to figure that out. Or to at least wonder about it before setting off with your mates and two carloads of kids.

Thingsthatgo · 20/05/2020 19:52

The reason the toilets are all closed are to discourage people driving long distances. If you’re 10 minutes away, fair enough, enjoy the beach for an hour or two. If you live an hour away go somewhere nearer to home. Maybe a park?

TinklyLittleLaugh · 20/05/2020 19:53

Quite. How can anyone spend a WHOLE DAY on a beach? I am bored after about 10 minutes.

You obviously need better company cologne

cyclingmad · 20/05/2020 19:54

And there us perfect example of not applying common sense. Rather than check just assume information isnt available and gosh if it isnt better to assume they arent available so your prepared. I mean holy moly how hard was that

Mrhodgeymaheg · 20/05/2020 19:54

It's not against the law to travel to the beach. If you think it is packed, then you need to go somewhere else if you don't want to risk it. Councils need to open up the toilets as people pissing and shitting everywhere is a bigger public health risk than having them open.

You have right to refuse someone using your loo though. They should really have thought about being able to use one before they travelled.

It does make me laugh though, when they interview people on a packed beach who are fuming at other people visiting it like the beach is somehow reserved for them.

RaptorInaPorkPieHat · 20/05/2020 19:56

Our local council (I also live near Skeg) has been very vocal about the Lincolnshire coast still being closed. They're running ads on FB clearly stating the fact (although, if you don't follow them you're unlikely to see it).

TinklyLittleLaugh · 20/05/2020 19:56

We checked the toilets were open on the council website but would just have driven home if there had been a problem.

maresydoats · 20/05/2020 19:56

Each to their own, but I completely fail to see the attraction of beaches and the seaside when they are crowded. It absolutely baffles me. Cheek by jowl, queues for everything, parking issues etc. etc. I know it is probably just me but I would rather have a root canal.

There are so many beautiful areas around the country that are NOT beaches, wonder how they are getting on.

But maybe some of the beach goers are getting into practise for when Benidorm opens up again.

Original poster
mummydoris2006 · 20/05/2020 19:57

@CrowdedHouseinQuarantine no Slegness is a typo as explained in the post after it, literally seconds after the original post I explained this.

For all the people questioning the Essex couple, seriously after a full day at work and annoyance at the social distancing rules not being adhered to I really don't have the energy to make a story up. Actually I can honestly say I wouldn't make a story up regardless of the circumstances!

A local tyre man has stated tonight he has had people coming for tyres from Nottingham, Leicester and further afield as they see it as a trip out. I'm pretty sure there are tyre warehouses open closer to them, cheaper etc but they still came here Confused

OP posts:
ToffeeYoghurt · 20/05/2020 19:57

If you’re 10 minutes away, fair enough, enjoy the beach for an hour or two. If you live an hour away
What of you're one of the Special Ones, a Local, but you need the toilet a lot?

Tiramisuiloveyou · 20/05/2020 19:57

If you go to a place you intend to visits website or local FB site it will probably tell you that they are ‘shut to tourists’, have limited car parking, no public loos, no over night stays etc. It doesn’t take a rocket scientist to put two and two together.
Do the maths and think if I visit x place it will take Y time to get there and I would like to spend roughly Z time at the place how long could I manage without a toilet if I had to and without food or drink if I don’t take my own and nowhere is open, if I visit is it a popular place which could be end up too crowded for me to manage social distancing If others have the same idea, how are the locals going to feel about swarms of tourists outside their front doors. Should I be going or could I go for a walk locally elsewhere?
Do you think the local cleaners will be issued with PPE and fully clean the toilets after every potential tourists visit who could potentially have covid.