Picnic Etiquette

On occasion this blog becomes my soap box ... today is one of those days.

Recently some of my family and I went out for the day for a picnic and sightseeing. Our picnic got off to a leisurely start, we enjoyed watching the seagulls fly, and just spending the time together.
However, close to the end of out picnic, the tranquillity was rudely interrupted by a large extended family.

So here are my thoughts on picnic etiquette:

1. Choose your spot where there is quite a bit of space between you and the next family/group.

       This family stood less than a metre behind us loudly jabbering, then spread their picnic rug                  within 2 metres of ours even though there was a lot of space elsewhere throughout the park in              both sun and shade.

2. Walk well away from where others are sitting.

      The above mentioned group walked all around us with less than a metre to spare. They could               have walked a lot further away. Plus if anyone had tripped on the uneven ground, they would               have fallen on top of us. There was no reason to walk anywhere close to us as all amenities were         in the opposite direction.

3. Stop your children from doing an activity that could endanger others.

    Included in this family group were a number of preteen/early-teen boys. They opted to throw and       kick very heavy pine cones (these were more like bricks in density and weight) and sticks at each       other and at the shade trees, trying to knock down more pine cones. We were in the firing line and       very concerned that we would be injured. The parents/grandparents did nothing to stop the boys or     even get them to move away.

Needless to say, the rest of our picnic was not relaxed and we very quickly packed up and headed off. It really put a damper on what had been a lovely time.