AIBU ? Really sad about trip to the beach today.

[Tigertigertigertiger]

I’m fortunate to live a 15 minute drive from a big sandy beach.
Today was hot so after work I went straight to the beach to swim .( it was freezing )

I’m really sad about the experience.

The beach was full of out of control barking dogs, children literally screaming at the top of their voices for no reason ( yes, it’s a theme of mine ) , but the saddest thing of all was the place was strewn with litter.

Plastic bottles, empty crisp bags, discarded takeaways, fag ends, empty drink cans ....
There were loads of bins around . Not that you need a bin to not litter.

I’m genuinely upset by this. Is this considered ok now ? What can be done about it if anything ? I’m properly upset.

i just looked at temp in glasgow wow i bet you cant believe it-makes a nice change

littering is disgusting no excuse for it

YABU moaning about the noise.
it's the fucking sea. wind & water are exciting, if you don't want noise go to a library

YANBU about litter. it's disgusting.
bad parenting & bad manners

@RogueMnerHidesUnderABigHat

You said a disgusting thing *@WeirdArchitecture*

Shame on you

I know, I don't usually let rip like that online. I dare say I don't even really believe it, but ive had a few experiences recently and im still smarting a bit.

No, litter isn’t considered ok now. Of course it isn’t. But some people are awful and thoughtless. So they don’t care what’s considered ok.
Out of control dogs - also not ok. And sometimes kids will be too much. But again, not everyone is considerate. Doesn’t mean “it’s considered ok now”.
There’s a good chance it won’t be that peaceful on a popular lovely beach on a warm afternoon, though.

@PumpkinKlNG

Well they do it round here, they organise litter picking groups and they go all over the area cleaning, rather than just sitting at home complaining about it...

So it’s the fault of people who don’t think it’s their job to pick up other people’s rubbish, rather than the people who actually leave the rubbish?

Two little girls screaming- I’m sure they didn’t carry on for hours get a grip- if you want silence May I suggest a remote mountain walk next time!

I live in the Highlands of Scotland and we have some beautiful beaches and litter dropping really annoys me. Tourist season brings plenty of visitors most who are respectful and clean up after themselves but a small minority leave litter, wild camp leaving excrement and burning fires. It's horrible and not necessary.

@ThroughThickAndThin01

Organise a local litter picking group?

Neither the OP nor volunteers, nor even the local council should have to clear up the litter and filth strewn all over the beach by these disgusting individuals.

Why do people think it is ok to treat places they visit with such contempt?

@WeirdArchitecture

Not a parent, but a beach without kids would be surprising, and I loved beaches as a kid, so I can't imagine resenting them having a riot there.

But fucking dogs.
I love dogs, essentially, but the UK has become a shit show of entitlement with them. WTF lent them such god like status? Everywhere I go it's dogs, endless barking and fucking dog shit everywhere. Twats.

I agree. I’ll probably get shot too.

I live and have always lived on a quiet coastline. The last 3-4 years it’s been like a dog deluge. Way more than ever before. Way way more. We do have dog ‘areas’ but lots of people ignore them. Lots. I’ve seen many many dogs have a piss up against a sandcastle or a coolbox. It’s really not okay.

Kids shriek. It’s a tad irritating. I’m way beyond those parenting years but dogs are a whole level of invasion. Running up to your blanket/rug, sniffing your crotch, chasing, then for every person defending that their precious dog doesn’t do it, believe me there is an arsehole owner who will.

As I sit now in my semi-rural home, which i moved to in order to satisfy the ‘go and live in a field’ brigade (after years of hearing fucking fido yapping and yapping) and I can still hear some fucking dog yapping in the village. And I’ve still trodden in dog shit this week.

The pandemic has also made it worse. Everyone has a bloody dog.

The divide is constant. If you love them you can’t see how bad it is. If you don’t like them it’s bloody unrelenting.

My DD gets really angry about rubbish - she's 4. So I got her a litter picker and we take a bin bag out. I've seen 16year olds run to collect their rubbish so my 4yr old doesn't have to pick it up and maybe, just maybe, that's a lesson learned? We do this 2-3 times per week.

I also think some rubbish is left on purpose and some blows out of people's bins. It doesn't matter, we pick it up anyway. Be part of the solution...

Crazy responses on here.

Why is it the OP’s responsibility to organise litter picks?

I take a litter picker and a bag and at least feel the beach was better when I left it

With you on the litter front and dogs with poor recall off the lead. Drives me barmy. I don't mind quiet, well behaved dogs, in fact I quite like them. But most dogs these days are really poorly trained and are therefore shit.

Dogs being there and children screaming however, less of an issue. Beaches can be noisy and busy.

I see a lot of children just discard their rubbish whilst walking. As if it’s normal behaviour. Poor parenting is responsible for that. I raised mine to know that you dispose of your rubbish in a bin, and if there isn’t a bin, then you take it home with you. But some parents dont like to call out their kids on anything, so basically let them behave like feral animals.

The litter makes me so angry, but yabu about the children and dogs (assuming it's not a dog free beach). We go to a little cove 1/2 a mile from nearest road, far nicer - more inconvenient it is the less litter louts

Dogs and kids I can handle but something about litter left on a beach just really makes my heart sink.

How can people be so nasty!

It’s definitely parenting when it comes to dropping litter. It would feel uncomfortable and completely alien for me and my kids to drop litter anywhere! It makes me uncomfortable just seeing someone do it.

What did @weirdarchitecture say that was so wrong?

It's factually correct. There are twatty dog owners not picking up shit and letting their dogs jump on people everywhere.

My young DC has been knocked over 3 times by dogs, had a stick wrestled out of his hand and food stolen from him twice, and only once got an apology. As a result they are terrified of most dogs. Didn't used to be, up till age 2.5 before these incidents he was fine.

It annoys me too and I wish people could be fined for leaving rubbish behind (they do in the centre of my town but I've never seen it in a park or on a beach). I don't live near a beach but I kayak a lot in rivers. I bring a spare rubbish bag and keep some marigold gloves in the kayak with me so I can pick up bigger bits floating past. DH thought I was mad and it was futile but he's started to join in. Quite a few regular kayakers have started picking up the odd bit of rubbish and it's making a difference. Obviously the volume of rubbish dumped in rivers vs dumped on a beach are very different but if more people did a little bit to help, things will get easier.

*I think most people would be annoyed by a screaming child. Laughing okay, screaming unacceptable.

My kids are not allowed to scream. Screaming is for emergencies.*

We must parent differently. I know, shock. My child is allowed to scream in excitement at the beach. I don't let him in the garden (not that the garden is overly exciting). But the beach. It's not a "screaming match". He's excited and happy. Honestly MN blows my mind sometimes.

YANBU about the litter.

YABU about children enjoying themselves 🙄you don’t own the beach.

Litter being the councils job is such a lazy attitude, if people just took it home if wouldn’t cost the councils £££ and they’d have budget for more useful things.
Absolutely this! I also agree that children shouldn't be screaming. There are still other people to consider. When I was young (many years ago) it was considered the norm for children to behave quietly in public. Especially on public transport, and if in school uniform, eating in the street was forbidden. (A bit off topic perhaps, but all of a piece with general behaviour).

Anyone who begrudges children having fun on a beach after the bloody awful 15 months they’ve had is so unreasonable it’s off the scale.

The human race is generally a piece of shit, I can't wait for us to blow each other up so the next species can become dominant. I really mean this. We have had enough time on this planet to become decent and have failed miserably. We are cruel to animals which share this space with us and cruel to each other. We have messed about with nature big time, cutting down the rain forest, polluting the sea and the skies and the ground and now we want to colonise other worlds and do the same again. Good riddance to the human race forever, I say, and make it as soon as possible.