To be annoyed about her collecting the stones?

[forestblade]

I thought there was an unwritten rule that if you found a stone someone had painted you would pick it up and hide it somewhere else for someone else to find on their walk etc.

My SM now has a collection of painted stones she's found and leaves on her doorstep. I was round the other day and noticed the collection had grown somewhat and was quite surprised and then annoyed. She doesn't paint stones and leave them for others herself, just collects everyone elses!

AIBU??

But she wants to keep them. That's just not how life works. People going to each others houses and taking stuff because you don't think they should have them.

Unless you are Burglar Bill in which case I stand corrected.

I have never heard of this before in my life!

It was all the rage where I lived during Covid. Thankfully it seems to have passed by now.

Have I wandered into some kind of magical parallel universe?

I had no idea there were regularly painted stones to be found in the wild, let along written and unwritten rules as to what to do with them

@Flossflower I agree. I've never seen painted stones in forests but would regard it as littering

I have literally never heard of this. I am thankful to your SM for taking them out of circulation. Not keen.

I thought this was only a thing during lockdown. We, too, had a rocksnake, which everyone added to on their daily walks. It eventually reached the seafront from the woodland walk in the hills above town. The pebbles were decorated with chalk though, not acrylic paint, so I'm assuming not so bad for the environment? I stand by to be corrected. The kids round here loved it. No-one took the decorated pebbles home.

Acrylic paint is recommended for outdoor use. People need to give over saying those rocks are polluting. So it's ok to paint a whole fence or a boat but not a tiny rock? It's very very thinly veiled snobbery.

Nor me. It all sounds very silly. They are just stones.🙄

Agree! People are sooo odd

Gates, Fences, Boats but a tiny rock, dear lord noooooooo 😱

And for those saying they put them in the bin, how about clearing rubbish and collecting plastic from the sea instead

Yes, I agree.

There's a waterfall I know where people insist on hanging ribbons and other shit - it's naturally beautiful there, leaving ribbons to fade and go mouldy just spoils it. I bet it's "woo"-type people who think they're one with nature or something. 🙄

Painted stones and such don't belong in the countryside.

I'd be perfectly happy for people to put painted rocks all along their own fences.

There's a bit of a difference between painting your own property and leaving things in a natural setting and on land that isn't yours.

Land that isnt yours?

So a park or a common?

My local very large council is very much on board with rock painting and hiding and does events themselves
Its a painted rock for goodness sake

@category12

Indeed the land isn't yours or mine. If you find rocks perhaps contact the land owner like say the local ranger and ask them before deciding to enter yourself into the fun sponge of the year awards by binning rocks children painted for a bit of a fun game. Who does that!? Of all the ways to spend your time and be a member of your community...

In which case it's fine, because the council is on board with it on their land, but from that group's rules that were posted earlier in the thread it's clear it is a problem to some land-owners:

"it’s best not to hide your rocks in the living coast and occombe farm, they have asked us not to, we have to respect their decision, there is still lots of places to hide them, please don’t leave rocks on any grass areas think about the danger to mowing equipment and those who operate it".

If you've got permission, crack on, but it is a form of littering if not. And like I said about the ribbon-hanging at the waterfall - you could say it's "only" a few ribbons, but it looks like shite in no time and does nothing good for the environment.

I think they are completely different to fences and gates and other man made items that have a proper purpose. I think they are fine in urban areas but I dislike finding them in the countryside. I see them as litter although not as bad as those awful 'fairy doors' I've seen on random trees in the countryside. Ugh, they are so twee.

Who knew this was such a polarised topic of discussion!

We keep them!

Finders keepers! That's how it works round these parts.

Go geocaching if you want to find and replace.

I'm so surprised that so many haven't heard of this! It's huge round here. They always say keep or rehide but somehow keeping too many feels a bit off, it's not really entering into the sprint of it!

Where do you leave them? In the built environment I hope

not as bad as those awful 'fairy doors' I've seen on random trees in the countryside. Ugh, they are so twee.

Agreed! there was a huge outrage near me when a farmer removed these things from trees on HIS land.

It was alright in lockdown when we all went a little odd and thought we'd never be allowed to touch another human again lest we kill them. But if you want to connect with people now you don't have to resort to trashing microecosystems

It's fine as long as he served the faries due notice

Microplastics

If this is all it takes to make you 'annoyed', 'surprised' and 'aghast', she's probably winding you up for fun OP! 🤣🤣