Lord above some people are just... unbelievable!

[DuIcieDomum]

There's an Apache MK1 final flypast today [yawn] which DP and DS (autistic, this comes under one of his special interests) have been banging on about for days. They made flasks of cocoa and set up deckchairs in one of our fields (we live on a farm) to sit and watch it. Anyway it was delayed by 45 mins so they came in to eat lunch and then went back out...to find two men sitting on the deckchairs eating sandwiches waiting for the flypast . There was a third man with a dog with them, who actually asked DP to put our dog on a lead because his dog is nervous of other dogs!!

Now, this was in our field which is private land. The field is visible from a footpath but the footpath just goes past the gate and doesn't enter the field. They just saw our deckchairs and though it looked like a nice place to go and sit.

DP said sorry but no, they'd have to take the dog out of the field if it wasn't ok with other dogs, and that he and DS wanted their deckchairs back. A bit of harrumphing and the men left but... WTF?!?

Right to roam sounds wonderful in theory.

Given the utter carnage round here during lockdown, though, I concluded that a significant portion of the general public should never be let loose on a public footpath, never mind in a field of stock.

Which is a pain in the arse for those of us who could be trusted, but that's how it is.

Photograph them and put them on social media, also send the photo to the school.

You think the population of the U.K. ( many of whom can’t be trusted to pick up their own dog crap) should have access to firearms? Hell no.

I was once sitting on the sofa and heard planes in the sky, not unusual as we almost get skid marks on the roof when the Americans are playing, but when I looked out of the window there was a flypast of Hurricanes, Spitfires, a Lancaster and other planes, they had been rehearsing for a Palace flypast and were returning to base. It was fantastic.

You can access a rifle or shotgun, but you need a licence for it 😉

Surely they just didn’t know it was your land. Chill out!!!

@JudgeJ they threatened my ( adult but petite) daughter when she went out there with her camera. The teenage boys were way bigger than her.

Also had stone thrown at and hit window.

Eventually the school/ campus cop sorted it.

I live near a school. I came home a few weeks ago to find a man standing next to his electric scooter changing his outer clothes in the middle of our driveway. Not just next to the pavement, some way onto the driveway. I was quite unnerved by him but I did that very British thing of saying “Can I help you?” He asked “why”? Me: “Because you’re on my driveway”. Him: “I just dropped my child off at school”. Right. Ok. No explanation as to why this requires changing his clothes in the middle of my property. 🤯

I used to work in a bunch of small rural villages, travelling around between them, in a national park. In the summers, people were unbelievable - trespassing, looking through windows, but my favorite was always the people who would wander along in the middle of the roads, often stopping to take pictures, and would act amazed and outraged if you actually wanted to drive on the road. Perhaps they thought we all still got around by horse back (although in that case they would undoubtedly be feeding them something they shouldn't or whacking them with walking sticks.

That's so rude!

🤦🏼‍♀️

Surely they just didn’t know it was your land.

What difference does it make if it was op's land, or Joe Bloggs up the road's land? They knew it wasn't their land.

I fully sympathise.

I once had the reverse of this. Was visiting my great-grandad's grave. It's in the oldest part of the town graveyard, next to the church. The church is now a private dwelling, but the owner did not purchase the cemetery (which is still in use).

The owner of the church appeared and intoned "Can I help you?"

"No thank you, I'm fine. I'm visiting my great grandfather's grave."

This could go together with a million other threads/real lifeconversations about how entitled people have become. If I saw deckchairs in a field, i’d obviously assume someone was using them (even if I’d mistakenly thought the field was public land).

Covid definately seemed to have amplified entitled behaviour in the countryside (I could give you alot of examples living in a tourist/rural area).

I agree with others about putting up more signs that will frighten them off!

I witnessed this last Summer - someone standing ahead in a 60mph road to take a picture of the trees forming an arch along the road. Middle of the day, tourist area, so unlikely a professional photographer after a perfect shot. Common sense has gone out the window!

😂😂👏👏

We have a winner!!

Off the point but reminds me a bit of the poster from a few years ago who wanted to get a lock for her garden water tap. She was told she was being v unreasonable because a homeless person might be thirsty and need a drink....

That is hilarious.

Agreed, some people are ridiculously entitled. We live rurally too and often have people walking off the footpaths and onto our land. I can only imagine how they would react if I brought my kids down to their gardens and just let them run around without permission.

This reminds me of something I once did.
Went to Howarth with my mum. It’s a beautiful quaint town.
It was years ago and and there were lots of little shops selling bespoke items. Most of them were terraced premises with old fashioned windows and a door in the middle, just like a house.
Anyhow, as we were ambling along we came across one shop, with lovely pottery in the window all along the windowsill. There were items I knew mum would love, very similar to ornaments she collected.
We were having a good look through the window, pointing to things and admiring them. It had net curtains at the window so we had our faces pressed right up to the window to get a better view.
I said to mum ‘should we go inside?’ Then as I made my way to open the door I noticed people inside the shop, sat around a table. They were staring back at us. Strange I thought.
Then it dawned on me, it was someone’s house, not a shop!
Lord knows what they thought of us.
Good job I saw them or I would have been trying the door and going inside!

Great post @ThePlumsOfWilfred

I live in a Yorkshire Dales village , in a terrace up a quiet track that’s hidden from the road. At the end of lockdown the friends of the village group made a treasure trail thing for visitors, and one of the treasure points is near my house.
I have a stable type door, if it’s left open people on the trail walk into the garden and stick their heads through and usually say “ooh just having a look! Don’t mind me!!”
The first summer out of lockdown I started playing loud sweary music at weekends to keep them away.

We also live in Scotland and have seen entitled behaviour soar since the end of lockdown. We keep ponies and the amount of dog worrying and attacks that have occurred on our land have one through the roof and I have caught people trying to put babies up on their backs. Actual babies, too small to hold their heads up. What really infuriates me is that if anyone got hurt due to their stupid behaviour, we could be sued! There are lots of restrictions to right to roam but people, including one of my bloody neighbours, seem to think it means they can go where they like and do what they want. We had £2000 in damages last year between August and April, including an emergency vet bill when our small herd of ponies were poisoned by holiday makers staying at a local cottage, who gave them grass clippings, despite being told not to and why! One of the ponies nearly died of colic, we were very lucky he was showing symptoms when we went to check on him one evening - had he become ill overnight we could have lost him. I have spent a fortune on fencing to create walkways that keep the public away from the ponies and vice versa. I have also had complaints that they are scaring the shit out of people by following them and crowding them. But if people didn't approach them and feed them, as the country side code advises. the ponies would not follow them looking for treats! It is beyond infuriating. Farmers around here have started to lamb earlier and indoors to avoid tourist season and to keep flocks safe from dogs. It has become too stressful. And this is in an area with a low population density!

@ThePlumsOfWilfred Thank you for seeing things from our point of view. I don't have a problem with people using my land and I love right to roam. I agree with you, because I think it is what makes Scottish people so passionate about their own country. I love to roam about myself. But I also dearly love my ponies - is it really so much to ask that people just walk through and enjoy the land and the scenery without interfering with livestock or leaving litter? The attitudes of dog owners has also become ridiculous. Last year, I caught a woman looking at her phone and ignoring her dog, who was chasing my ponies. My gelding was about to lose his rag and turn on the dog and I shouted at her to call him back and put him on the lead. She shrugged and said, "He's having fun being a dog." I said (yelled) he is worrying my ponies. She told me it was part and parcel of living in the countryside and I should "chill out". Unfortunately, she seems to be part of a growing minority.