To be disappointed at poor response re street party

[Geminijust]

Smallish, quiet street, approx 45 houses, generally pretty friendly. Neighbour & I thought it might be nice to throw a party for the coronation. Council encouraging it by offering road closures & free insurance.

Sent out a note with a return slip asking people to say if they would interested, if they would be willing to help and inviting comments & suggestions. Gave them 2 weeks to respond. Deadline has passed and we have 17 responses, all positive, but that's less than half the street! AIBU to think it's really disappointing and actually rather rude :-(

Think we're going to send text to those that bothered to respond thanking them but, as we don't have a majority, informing them we will not be proceeding.

😐

This. I find it hilarious that so many people can’t cope with the thought of their road being closed for a couple of hours 😂.

It must be lovely to live a life where the whole world revolves around you, your job and your convenience with absolutely no one else allowed to do anything if it infringes on you for half a day.

Personally I could not care less about a street party or the Coronation. Were you clear with people what would be involved re setting up and catering etc? Lack of info may have frightened some off or some may feel they would be unable to contribute due to financial burdens at home so they have opted not to be involved.

I'm anti-monarchy but I just couldn't envisage a situation where I'd be getting irate because the neighbours wanted to close the road off for a few hours to drink some Pimms, eat some iced buns, and set up a face-painting station for their kids. Some people are just curmudgeons.

@FlatWhiteExtraHot
'This. I find it hilarious that so many people can’t cope with the thought of their road being closed for a couple of hours'

My street was closed on Tuesday for a police incident. It caused chaos, including stopping us visiting our mothers who we care for - something we will have to do regardless of whether there's a mediaeval ritual occurring.

I don't want anyone to be miserable. I regard it as quite reasonable not to want to be denied access to my drive and to have my movement in and out of my road denied.

I was talking specifically about FIREFIGHTERS! You know, those people who attend EMERGENCIES like house fires and car accidents and save peoples lives, have you heard of them? I don't work, a road closure wouldn't affect ME at all, but I do care that other people may potentially die because the people whose job it is to save them are trapped on their drives by a needless street party.

If you want to celebrate there is no need at all to do it out in the bloody road! Hire a hall, do it in your gardens. At no other time would the world be expected to grind to a halt so that people can have a party ffs!

Why is it sad not to want access to your road and drive compromised?

Judging by all the CAPS used the answer is yes? I'm sure they will have contingency plans because the occasional road might be blocked for whatever reason and they're not numpties. If OP does it properly then she might even build this into her planning so she can thank you for the heads up 🙂

17 houses is a lot. You can easily do a nice street part/picnic with that number. I've still got my bunting from Queen's jubilee. You need to find out how many wallpaper tables you can get. You can fit 6 to each one. Put Union Jack plastic table clothes down and off you go.

Who's "wallowing"?

Why does everyone have to consider these events "fun"?

surely the respective councils do a risk assessment before granting licenses?

Sad that you would want a party to be stopped for the sake a minor inconvenience for you. Think back to when you were young and fun and wanting to do something, and some grumpy person wanted to stop you having fun even though it didn't really affect them greatly. It's like that. If you can't see that as sad, I don't really know how I can explain it anymore 🤷‍♀️

Hopefully pizza express will be open and I can get a deliveroo rider past ops sandwich tables.

Probably going to cost a fair bit for delivery coming from Woking so everyone dig deep.

Will be popping the invites and invoice through your doors later. RSVP or you are rude.

While not being a fan of the monarchy I've already posted that I wouldn't want to be subjected to the inconvenience. The reason is secondary Who are my "followers"?

Why is it unreasonable to object to obstruction on a public highway?

That’s a good point. I’m not a royalist but do like the vibes at a street party. I’m still salivating thinking about those massive cheese balls and onion pakoras my neighbours made. Some people might not want to prepare things but might be ok with setting things up etc.

Don't bother explaining. The public highway isn't something I think people have the right to highjack, whatever the reason.

"I was talking specifically about FIREFIGHTERS! You know, those people who attend EMERGENCIES like house fires and car accidents and save peoples lives, have you heard of them?"

My god, chill 🤣. I'm sure the firefighters will be able to work out they need to put their car somewhere it's not blocked in and make sure it happens.

You more than likely would not like my reply if I received an invite to the party. I couldn't give a monkeys chunky about the kings coronation never mind having to put up with road closures due to a street party. Maybe some of your neighbours feel the same way 🤷🏽‍♀️

"Don't bother explaining. The public highway isn't something I think people have the right to highjack, whatever the reason."

So then you'd reply to the letter OP sent out. Talk about uptight 🤣

I feel fairly neutral towards the monarchy and don’t mind street parties.

however I have always got too much to do and would probably not have responded or attended. It’s very likely that I will be doing something necessary or practical on the day of the coronation.

I think you should go ahead with your 17 responses. Especially as many of them will be 2+ people. To not go ahead would be cutting off your nose to spite your face imo.

Hijack, sorry. If the road is public and allows movement in and out of people's homes it's not right in my view that people should be allowed to compromise that. Why can't people have parties in their gardens or in a local park?

As someone who has lived in Northern Ireland for many years, I've had to tolerate roads being blocked off every 11th (for bonfires) and 12th (for parades) for decades. It is a real pain in the arse and I think it's selfish.

I've already said I'd be lodging an objection with the council if that were to be proposed in my road.

I'd be just as happy to have a "down with the monarchy" party and don't know why people are presenting it as a "gotcha". It's just fun to have a party, something a bit out of the ordinary and done purely for enjoyment. Life has a lot of hard times, so why not make the most of opportunities to have a laugh?