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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

Original poster

to really hate tourists?

124 replies

SheikYerbouti · 08/08/2008 13:04

They are the bane of my life.

Yes, yes, yes, I KNOW they plough millions of pounds into our local economy and that they have the right to invade my home town EVERY DAY OF THE FARKING YEAR.

But WHY do they have to stand in the middle of the pavement in their shorts and backpacks holing maps and getting in the way. I saw one today in pissing hiking gear - in the centre of Bath fgs. I know it's hilly here, but one does not need crampons and a walking pole for scaling the dizzy heights of BHS. (he wasn't really wearing crampons, btw. I am exaggerating)

They get off the park and ride that I use to get to and from work and they just STAND THERE. Never do they step aside.

Yes, I know IABVU, but I just had to get it off my chest because they all stand in groups squinting up at things and getting in the way

OP posts:
SuperBunny · 09/08/2008 02:45

OH, I tourists . They stop, in the middle of the street with absolutely no warning to admire the river/ buildings/ buses/ boats, take pictures, look at maps etc when I am in a hurry trying to get somewhere. Then they want you to take a photo of them and give them directions to X, Y & Z. Or walk right in front of you e v e r s o s l o w l y, completely blocking the sidewalk, as if everyone has all the time in the world & has nowhere in particular to go. Grrrrr.

chefswife · 09/08/2008 03:37

i think there's a difference between experiencing a new city on holiday from just leaving your brain at home while vacationing.

victoria, bc, canada. it's on vancouver island. (not vancouver the city which is on the mainland). while working in the tourist industry, i had a discussion with someone who was adamant that they were not on an island, even though they came by ferry. at a hotel, another woman called down to the desk and asked 'where did all the water go?' the front desk clerk asked where was she not getting water, the faucet or tub. the lady said outside... she was from texas but for some reason, had no idea about tides and the ocean.

PollyLogos · 09/08/2008 06:29

I'd rather have the Bath tourists anyday than this lot and before anyone says it, I am very well aware that these are a very small proportion of the many wonderful brits who come on holiday to Greece every year.

Original poster
SheikYerbouti · 09/08/2008 06:50

Yes, I have already said IABU

I know this

I know I turn into a tourist when abroad, BUT it doth not stop them being a source of great irritation

I am PMSL heartily at "Thearteland"

MB - if you come back to Aquae Sulis you should give me a shout. Yes the pigs are fab! We have one in the foyer of our office - it's called "Chip n Pig" Sadly, the cleaners keep putting bin bags in front of it

OP posts:
Original poster
SheikYerbouti · 09/08/2008 06:52

BTW, we have our fair share of drunks too.

They all stand outside Waitrose shouting up New Bond Street.

OP posts:
unknownrebelbang · 09/08/2008 06:57

Are the drunks tourists or locals?

How miserable though, to live/work in a beautiful place, and not just enjoy the luxury of living/working in a beautiful place.

(yes, yes, I know, far too simplistic a statement, but when you live somewhere considered to be a dump....)

Always wanted to visit Bath, never got round to it. Oh well, one less tourist to get irritated about.

unknownrebelbang · 09/08/2008 06:58

And at least you've got a feckin waitrose!

PollyLogos · 09/08/2008 07:01

I know you admitted to being unreasonable!

The drunks outside waitrose are nothing like these kids though. At least in the daytime whenever I come into Bath. It's both and what these kids do on holiday.

Original poster
SheikYerbouti · 09/08/2008 07:03

Lol

Tis a shit one though - you can't park and they have ill placed pillars in there so you can't get round it either

It's also full of old duffers who shuffle round there and take 83764 years to buy some gin and some shortbread (Duchy Originals, natch)

This is why I use Tesco Online

OP posts:
PollyLogos · 09/08/2008 07:04

I think the drunks at Waitrose are locals.

You should visit Bath its a great place.

Original poster
SheikYerbouti · 09/08/2008 07:04

Yes, some Brits abroad are disgusting. I have seen it with my own eyes.

They are bad enough in their own town centres Bath after nightfall is like a fecking war zone)

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PollyLogos · 09/08/2008 07:09

Yeah, you're right - there are a lot of shufflers round the pillars!!!

I shall keep my pace up next week when I'm in Bath. Can't wait - I'm flying over on Tuesday.

Original poster
SheikYerbouti · 09/08/2008 07:09

I do appreciate living in Bath. Bits of it are lovely. But bits of it are pretty shitty and it is a depressing place to live when you can't afford anything because all of your wages go out on rent. It's also depressing when you realise that you will never buy a house ebacsue you are priced out of existence by second home buyers and the like.

There is a huge problem in Bath with drugs, alcohol and homelessness, so it's not all honey coloured Georgian terraces.

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Original poster
SheikYerbouti · 09/08/2008 07:09

Polly, do you come over to Bath often?

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unknownrebelbang · 09/08/2008 07:13

Ah yes, the advantage of living in a deprived area is that house prices are amongst the lowest in the country.

PollyLogos · 09/08/2008 07:15

I agree with everyting you say there, sheik. I was a student in Bath many years ago and it was such a great place then but really is very expensive now. And pretty scary in parts late at night!

I come over 2/3 times a year to see my dad who lives in bradford-on-Avon.

Original poster
SheikYerbouti · 09/08/2008 07:19

Mum mum lives there Polly

I never go into town, except for work, becuase I can't afford to.

We are looking at moving housse and will have to pay around a 1000 a month in rent for something not particularly big, or not particularly nice. As it is, I pay nearly 800pcm for my shittyu 2 up 2 down ex-council house which is owned by a thug who last did any improvement on it in 1980 (I shit you not)

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Original poster
SheikYerbouti · 09/08/2008 07:21

Anyway, I do love it here, even if you need an inciome of a million £s a year to afford anything

I am very lucky - I kbnow this because I grew up in Birmingham, which is a shithole.

OP posts:
PollyLogos · 09/08/2008 07:26

Small world sheik!!

I know the rents and house prices are ridiculous, because whenever I'm having a "I want to go back to the Uk moment" I look at rentals and doubt very much if i could afford anything. Best I could manage would be a small flat in Trowbridge!

branflake81 · 09/08/2008 07:51

I have lived in Paris and Heidelberg (v picturesque German town popular with Americans and Japanese) and totally know what you mean. When you have to get to work you get stuck behind big gangs of people taking photos it's really annoying.

However, I was in Barcelona recently and noted with horror that I was doing exactly the same thing.

AbbeyA · 09/08/2008 22:13

Unless you stay at home and don't go anywhere then you can't avoid it.It is just the price you pay for living somewhere attractive/with history etc.

Kewcumber · 09/08/2008 22:25

I try to like them really I do, I just wish they would levitate 20 feet above the entrance to the tube station rather than blocking it, do they not think other people might want to enter? And why oh why do they video buildings - they don't do anything, they just sit there - take a FECKING PHOTOGRAPH, YOU LOON!

However I find the ones who ask you direction on the tube very sweet particularly when you have to break the news that they're heading in the wrong direction on the District line and its going to take them 40 mins to get back to where they wanted to be, bless.

badgermonkey · 09/08/2008 22:30

I live in a deprived area that is also a tourist destination - on the plus side, we bought a four-bed semi with huge rooms and a good garden for £170,000 earlier this year, but on the downside town is full of families shouting at their kids and everyone pulls the same face when you tell them where you live! Eh, I'm five minutes from the beach, which sort of makes up for caravanners standing in front of everything in Tesco like they've never been in a supermarket before.

MogTheForgetfulCat · 09/08/2008 22:39

Only just seen this - as a fellow Bath resident, I have to say YANBU. I haven't been into town for weeks because it's just rammed at the moment.

It's the gormless meandering that gets me. And the way they think that a shop doorway, the bottom of an escalator or the middle of the road is the best place to stand and ponder "Gosh, what a lovely place, where shall we go next at a leisurely pace" while I am trying to get round 9 shops in the time it takes greedy DS2 to need another feed.

And it's ALL YEAR! Hordes of the buggers at Christmas - why, I don't know, because the shopping is pretty pants.

unknownrebelbang · 09/08/2008 23:22

I'll do my best to levitate Kew, although I may struggle with the boys...

And we always forget our videocamera so we're ok on that score.

I am, however, likely to cry if I find out I'm going the wrong way!