Or: mumsnetter curious about social norms.
Here?s a little story for the court of mumsnet. Let me say right at the top that it?s over and done now and I don?t feel bad about the way I handled it, but I?m very interested in finding out if my perception of this little story is different from the norm.
So a couple of weeks ago I?m at a local beer festival with some friends. This is quite a big but well organised event held outdoors in a local park which is generally very mellow and well mannered. I have drunk my pint (of cider! no wonder I had to leave Yorkshire!) gone to get another half (wild living here) and I?m wandering around outside looking for my friends. People are sitting/standing around all over the grass in groups, fairly well spread about and I can?t see my friends.
So I?m bumbling around in my short-sighted way, peering at people and dismissing them, and I hear a terrible shriek:
?oh no, my pint, it took me 45 minutes to get that and you?ve just knocked it over!? A slightly toasted young lady is shrieking at me, it appears. Closer investigation reveals that the pile of discarded plates that I just walked past (a good 8 feet away from the young lady) did in fact hold a pint glass, now on its side.
I was a bit distracted, still not entirely concentrating on her problem and I think I muttered something (which was meant to be apologetic) like: ?oh trauma, sorry?. Then I wandered off. And she threw the rest of the beer over me.
So, my question is, in essence, if you buy a pint of beer and then leave it sitting in the middle of a field in a beer festival do other people have a duty of care to keep looking at their feet and making sure they don?t knock your beer over? If so, I?m going to have to change my behaviour at festivals!
PS, I'll tell you what I did if you tell me what you would have done