to ask for your DFL (down from London) stories

[holidayspotlocal]

Living in the West Country and we are currently inundated with tourists. Great to have the money in the local economy and I hope they have a lovely time on the beach. However, some are obviously from cities and have no idea what life is like here.
We call them DFL - down from London. (they may be from other places tho)
Most worrying is the lack of knowledge about tides, rips, crumbly cliffs etc, and the sheer rudeness to hospitality staff. Plus they drive shiny 4x4 Landrovers that can't squeeze into a passing place without the parking sensors going off and they can't back up on the lanes.
Last week I heard one say 'Where has all the beach gone? I'm sure there was a lot more sand this morning'

@Cooper88

Got to love the DFL. I live in the west country but right on the edge of dartmoor, the amount of people I have seen that decide to just walk off the tracks despite the fog rolling in recently 😳. They also seem to love having brand new shiny 4x4s but get really upset when they have to tuck in (yes that means you have to get very close to the hedges) or get mud on the 4x4s 🤷‍♀️🤷‍♀️🤷‍♀️

You've clearly never been to London if you think we all have 'shiny 4x4s'.

Has MN had a sense of humour bypass tonight? I’m frequently a DFL (don’t own a big 4x4 though) but I was still looking forward to a thread full of amusing tales do thank you for starting it@holidayspotlocal, just a shame others spoilt it. Instead you’re nearly all taking it so seriously. I don’t see many people complaining when someone starts a thread about daft things their children/friends/colleagues/MIL have said so why the horror about this one

I think had the OP focussed on a genuinely funny incident, (like the cow noises / wood v clay pigeon posts within the thread, for example) and not made nasty sweeping generalisations (hostile to hospitality staff etc) it could have gone that way.

But:

People are in holiday after two years of lockdown.
Last year most people respected the ‘don’t travel’ rules and watched rural and coastal regions enjoy very low infection rates while they feared for their relatives in hospital.

Many people have paid extortionate rates, hiked up from usual, for cottages and AirBnBs and are VERY conscious as to how much they are spending in the area.

Finally getting a holiday isn’t the moment to laugh at someone sneering at your holiday.

I am a Londoner, but grew up remote / coastal. I have seen seals thousands of times. But I still smile when I see them, and I am delighted at the delight of people who go on trips to see them. And running seal trips provides significant employment.

Nothing funny or nice in any way to sneer at people enjoying seeing seals. It doesn’t even inconvenience anyone in the way that some aspects of tourism does.

The first seal I saw was in the Thames by Hammersmith bridge.

I'm DFL. I have a mini. And surprisingly I know how to safely negotiate a tide table or walk along a cliff top. And can usually manage not to be rude to hospitality staff. But funny thread

@drspouse

We live by the sea in the NW and non locals (plus sadly some local teens) are frequently stuck in quicksand. The signs by the beach are NOT lying.

We are currently on holiday in the West country and DH overheard a child in the chip shop queue ask "mummy, is there wifi in our tent?"

I stayed in a bamboo hut on a beach in India and I had WiFi there. It's not that ridiculous.

Tbh I’ve lived in touristic places, in very big towns such as london and the countryside.

Thé issue as such isn’t the ‘I’m lost because I’m struggling to drive on a single track road etc…’.It’s the fact that most of those people expect things to fit around them rather than the other way around.

They grumble at the single track lanes (why can’t it be wider? People here drive too fast - well yes they are used to them!). They have no idea of tides of get stuck at the bottom of a cliff and the ‘locals’ have to go and rescue them, sometimes at their own risk.
They complain about sand on the beach etc…

Just like btw people from the countryside grumble at Londoners ‘running’ in the underground and pushing them aside (because they’ve spread themselves in the corridor). The underground again being busy at peak times and people being squashed or little space for their suitcase etc etc.

Or when people go abroad and can’t comprehend that the food is different. That you might come across beggars, eat insects and so on.

The other ones? The ones who actually read the signs saying that the tide can be dangerous, to not climb on XX place to dive in the water, who do their best to move away on the side of the road? Imo you hardly notice them (just like Londoners would hardly notice a tourist people watching in the underground/bus)

We are currently on holiday in the West country and DH overheard a child in the chip shop queue ask "mummy, is there wifi in our tent?"

I could get internet connectivity on European camp sites in the late 90s, usable wifi has been mainstream on European sites for well over a decade.

The fact that the UK is woefully piss poor in rural connectivity is nothing to sneer about - its shameful.

@ShingleBeach

Has MN had a sense of humour bypass tonight? I’m frequently a DFL (don’t own a big 4x4 though) but I was still looking forward to a thread full of amusing tales do thank you for starting it@holidayspotlocal, just a shame others spoilt it. Instead you’re nearly all taking it so seriously. I don’t see many people complaining when someone starts a thread about daft things their children/friends/colleagues/MIL have said so why the horror about this one

I think had the OP focussed on a genuinely funny incident, (like the cow noises / wood v clay pigeon posts within the thread, for example) and not made nasty sweeping generalisations (hostile to hospitality staff etc) it could have gone that way.

But:

People are in holiday after two years of lockdown.
Last year most people respected the ‘don’t travel’ rules and watched rural and coastal regions enjoy very low infection rates while they feared for their relatives in hospital.

Many people have paid extortionate rates, hiked up from usual, for cottages and AirBnBs and are VERY conscious as to how much they are spending in the area.

Finally getting a holiday isn’t the moment to laugh at someone sneering at your holiday.

I am a Londoner, but grew up remote / coastal. I have seen seals thousands of times. But I still smile when I see them, and I am delighted at the delight of people who go on trips to see them. And running seal trips provides significant employment.

Nothing funny or nice in any way to sneer at people enjoying seeing seals. It doesn’t even inconvenience anyone in the way that some aspects of tourism does.

But the problem is NOT people going to see seals.

It’s those who think they know best, even when it’s clear they don’t.
It’s the people who think they deserve a certain level of ‘care’ at restaurant etc… because they come ‘boost the economy’ (meaning if we weren’t there, you would have nothing. So shut up and look after us the best way possible).
It’s those who expect things to be the same than what they have at home wo even thinking things might be done in a different way. (True for driving, the roads, quick service or being in a ‘green’ space wo any dangers)

@C8H10N4O2

We are currently on holiday in the West country and DH overheard a child in the chip shop queue ask "mummy, is there wifi in our tent?"

I could get internet connectivity on European camp sites in the late 90s, usable wifi has been mainstream on European sites for well over a decade.

The fact that the UK is woefully piss poor in rural connectivity is nothing to sneer about - its shameful.

Haha. In the late 90s in France, you still had the dial up system. I very doubt you had ‘usable wifi’ on campsite there

my DH learned to drive in London, when we moved to Yorkshire he conceded that he had never overtaken anyone before

@peachykeenjellybaby

Lets start a thread about the dopey 'up to London' people who come from the country.

They hold everyone up at the ticket barrier and stand on the left looking like fools

Worse crime is making eye contact with people on the tube! Big no.

RacistAngst Yes, I know that plenty of obnoxious people go on holiday, they are also obnoxious when not on holiday….and some obnoxious people are rural and coastal locals.

And a poster was laughing at visitors enjoyment of seals as a response to the OP.

Priced out of housing? Ask any ordinary Londoner about this!

As usual the issue is money and class but hey Ho, let’s have a go at visitors and tourism and create more division where more than ever we need solidarity.

Haha. In the late 90s in France, you still had the dial up system. I very doubt you had ‘usable wifi’ on campsite there

Let's try some reading comprehension shall we?

I said:
"I could get internet connectivity on European camp sites in the late 90s, usable wifi has been mainstream on European sites for well over a decade"

Note the first part before the comma says "internet connectivity", the second part says usable wifi for over a decade - ie since the late 00s.

In the 90s I was getting text based communications like work emails and usenet, text based browers worked on those connections but were not worth the effort. Yes of course it was dial up via a mobile phone with wireless modem connectivity. "internet connectivity" and "wifi" are not the same thing.

You failed to address the key point - UK rural connectivity is utterly piss poor then and now which is "global Britain" is shameful.

Are inner city kids who have rarely been in the country side allowed in your rural idyll, or is it just the posh visitors you dislike? If you are lucky enough to live somewhere nice enough for others to want to visit, get over yourself, share it, and be grateful.

@Malin52 I grew up in London luv. Trust me I know what London is like I know not everyone has shiny 4x4s. However the shiny 4X4s you see in the lanes around here are Londoners and they refuse to move over close to a hedge. If they didn't mind getting there paint slightly scratched (trust me around here all our vehicles are scratched as we constantly have to tuck in) you are going to puss off the locals. Especially as we are not on holiday and have places we need to be at a set time, like you know work.

What will be funny tho is when these coastal towns are under water dur to climate change and will come with tails between their legs to the inner cities and live with the very people they sneer at

[quote Cooper88]@Malin52 I grew up in London luv. Trust me I know what London is like I know not everyone has shiny 4x4s. However the shiny 4X4s you see in the lanes around here are Londoners and they refuse to move over close to a hedge. If they didn't mind getting there paint slightly scratched (trust me around here all our vehicles are scratched as we constantly have to tuck in) you are going to puss off the locals. Especially as we are not on holiday and have places we need to be at a set time, like you know work.[/quote]
I am not particularly precious about my car but Christ I’m not gonna tuck myself in to a bush and scratch my car just because some superior yocal thinks they’re a better person because they don’t mind getting their car scratched.

Maybe leave some more time to get to work rather than having to rush other people who are driving perfectly legally

However the shiny 4X4s you see in the lanes around here are Londoners

Do you ask them all where they're from then?

Also, is it OK if the "shiny 4x4" comes from Manchester rather than London?

[quote Cooper88]@Malin52 I grew up in London luv. Trust me I know what London is like I know not everyone has shiny 4x4s. However the shiny 4X4s you see in the lanes around here are Londoners and they refuse to move over close to a hedge. If they didn't mind getting there paint slightly scratched (trust me around here all our vehicles are scratched as we constantly have to tuck in) you are going to puss off the locals. Especially as we are not on holiday and have places we need to be at a set time, like you know work.[/quote]
How on earth can you possibly know they're from London?

I had to hire a car to go to Cornwall because I don't normally need a car, I'm from another city, not London.
I was worried about scratching it I'll be honest but I did my best to tuck in and luckily got back home without a huge excess to pay.
At no point did I think they should widen the roads for me!

Cooper88, and all the locals have scratched cars? How do you verify that? Even the ones who park on the driveways of their fancy houses that are air bnb'd for half the year. Alot of people in the west country own shiny 4x4s.

Clearly you live in a local town for local people, OP

My Nan enjoys constantly complaining about "Grockles" in her seaside village. Conveniently forgetting that she's originally from East London...

@Cooper88

Got to love the DFL. I live in the west country but right on the edge of dartmoor, the amount of people I have seen that decide to just walk off the tracks despite the fog rolling in recently 😳. They also seem to love having brand new shiny 4x4s but get really upset when they have to tuck in (yes that means you have to get very close to the hedges) or get mud on the 4x4s 🤷‍♀️🤷‍♀️🤷‍♀️

I’d love to see you driving down the roads near me, narrow Victorian streets, cars parked on either side, double decker buses..... and have fun navigating the cycle paths and bus lanes, watch out for the yellow boxes and variable speed limits.

@Shirleyphallus, thé point is that often on those lanes you have no other choice. If you don’t move aside and take that ‘risk’ you are forcing the other car to do so (not just risking it iyswim).
Or you can both refuse to do so and no one moves

Personally I’m annoyed at any owner of 4x4 who refuses to drive on the grass on the side but expect me to do so with my non 4x4 (and very ‘towny’) car…. I mean surely they are better equipped?