Just keep me home in the pasture
Oct. 21st, 2006 08:07 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
altivo*still trying to calm down* I even had a glass of wine to try to help, but it's not quite working.
This is the annual Autumn Drive, when our country road is thrown open with an invitation to city folks to come visit, enjoy the autumn colors, shop for arts, crafts, and antiques, and partake of entertainment and food. It seemed like a good idea the first couple of years we were here, but now I've come to really hate it and can't wait until it's over.
The stretch of road is about three miles, and there are fifteen or so official stopping places, mostly farms with large barns or other suitable roofed venues for booths and stages. The music is always genteel, never rock bands or anything like that. The food is simple (county health regulations have been tightened to where it's hard to offer much of anything, actually) and the goods for sale range from cheap schlock to genuine antiques.
If the weather is at all good, we get literally thousands of urban and suburbanites invading us for three days, blocking our driveways, parking on our lawns and throwing trash on them, and generally acting self-important and rude. The lady across the road from us has about 80 acres, loves children, and always does a big deal in her barn with food and drink and live entertainment. For several years she has invited my mate Gary to come over and play as one of her musicians, and he has been happy to do so. I've avoided the scene now for the last four years, but today I thought I'd go over and listen. He was going to play for an hour with three of his friends, and I wanted to hear the ensemble. They do quiet, traditional music with a few modern songs thrown in, all acoustic, and a casual setting in a barn loft suits them just fine.
So I got there ten minutes before they were on, found a seat by an empty table and waited. A group of about six people showed up and asked if they could share the table and I said "Sure." They were quite loud, and I learned a lot about them from the conversation before the music started. Obviously from Barrington or Algonquin, wealthy suburbs much closer to Chicago, they were full of attitude and full of themselves.
When the music started, they were quiet through most of the first song, and I though that would be it. But then they started up again, right over the top of the musicians, loud, raucous and rude. Even insulting the music and the performers. I sat quietly but couldn't keep my anger from building. Finally, between about the fourth and fifth selection, I stood up to move to another location. One of the women stood up right in front of me, ignoring me, and blocked my path. I lost it. I pinched her sleeve to get her attention, gestured to her group, and said "You are the rudest, loudest, most obnoxious people I've ever had to suffer being around. If you can't be polite to the performers, why don't you leave?" Of course, she yelled at me to let go of her and how dare I touch her...
I moved to the other side of the room and found another seat, only to be followed by her husband who wanted to be belligerent and pick a fight with me. He demanded that I apologize to her, and I refused. He threatened to call the police and I said "I haven't done anything wrong, I didn't harm her or threaten her." Then I went on listening to the performers. The two loud women came up and said something about "Finding the owner to complain" and off they went. A few minutes later, Gene, who manages the venue for Trudy, came and sat next to me. He asked what happened, I told him. He said the guy was really angry and was threatening to call the police. Would I apologize to the wife? I told him I had nothing to apologize for. He said he knew that, but in the interest of keeping the peace would I do it? I offered to just leave, and he said no, he didn't want me to have to do that. Then I said "If they will apologize to the musicians, I'll apologize to them. All these people here saw what happened, I did nothing threatening or harmful." He said OK, he understood, and left.
It ruined the rest of the hour for me, though no one showed up to arrest me and the irate husband never came back. I don't know whether Gene managed to calm him down or the group just got too impatient to wait. After the performance ended, we went out the back door and went home. I guess I'll not go back over there tomorrow or next year.
It is disgusting how people can come into a place where they don't live, where they have been invited as guests, and then act as if they totally own it and everyone else is their inferior. Threatening to bring in lawyers and sue me, threatening to have me arrested, acting as if it is their inborn right because they are wealthy to do whatever they please and it is our duty as "rural hicks" to wait on their every whim. I say to hell with them. They thought they were in some kind of business establishment that had to cater to them as "paying customers" because they bought a cup of hot chocolate. Well they were wrong.
This is the annual Autumn Drive, when our country road is thrown open with an invitation to city folks to come visit, enjoy the autumn colors, shop for arts, crafts, and antiques, and partake of entertainment and food. It seemed like a good idea the first couple of years we were here, but now I've come to really hate it and can't wait until it's over.
The stretch of road is about three miles, and there are fifteen or so official stopping places, mostly farms with large barns or other suitable roofed venues for booths and stages. The music is always genteel, never rock bands or anything like that. The food is simple (county health regulations have been tightened to where it's hard to offer much of anything, actually) and the goods for sale range from cheap schlock to genuine antiques.
If the weather is at all good, we get literally thousands of urban and suburbanites invading us for three days, blocking our driveways, parking on our lawns and throwing trash on them, and generally acting self-important and rude. The lady across the road from us has about 80 acres, loves children, and always does a big deal in her barn with food and drink and live entertainment. For several years she has invited my mate Gary to come over and play as one of her musicians, and he has been happy to do so. I've avoided the scene now for the last four years, but today I thought I'd go over and listen. He was going to play for an hour with three of his friends, and I wanted to hear the ensemble. They do quiet, traditional music with a few modern songs thrown in, all acoustic, and a casual setting in a barn loft suits them just fine.
So I got there ten minutes before they were on, found a seat by an empty table and waited. A group of about six people showed up and asked if they could share the table and I said "Sure." They were quite loud, and I learned a lot about them from the conversation before the music started. Obviously from Barrington or Algonquin, wealthy suburbs much closer to Chicago, they were full of attitude and full of themselves.
When the music started, they were quiet through most of the first song, and I though that would be it. But then they started up again, right over the top of the musicians, loud, raucous and rude. Even insulting the music and the performers. I sat quietly but couldn't keep my anger from building. Finally, between about the fourth and fifth selection, I stood up to move to another location. One of the women stood up right in front of me, ignoring me, and blocked my path. I lost it. I pinched her sleeve to get her attention, gestured to her group, and said "You are the rudest, loudest, most obnoxious people I've ever had to suffer being around. If you can't be polite to the performers, why don't you leave?" Of course, she yelled at me to let go of her and how dare I touch her...
I moved to the other side of the room and found another seat, only to be followed by her husband who wanted to be belligerent and pick a fight with me. He demanded that I apologize to her, and I refused. He threatened to call the police and I said "I haven't done anything wrong, I didn't harm her or threaten her." Then I went on listening to the performers. The two loud women came up and said something about "Finding the owner to complain" and off they went. A few minutes later, Gene, who manages the venue for Trudy, came and sat next to me. He asked what happened, I told him. He said the guy was really angry and was threatening to call the police. Would I apologize to the wife? I told him I had nothing to apologize for. He said he knew that, but in the interest of keeping the peace would I do it? I offered to just leave, and he said no, he didn't want me to have to do that. Then I said "If they will apologize to the musicians, I'll apologize to them. All these people here saw what happened, I did nothing threatening or harmful." He said OK, he understood, and left.
It ruined the rest of the hour for me, though no one showed up to arrest me and the irate husband never came back. I don't know whether Gene managed to calm him down or the group just got too impatient to wait. After the performance ended, we went out the back door and went home. I guess I'll not go back over there tomorrow or next year.
It is disgusting how people can come into a place where they don't live, where they have been invited as guests, and then act as if they totally own it and everyone else is their inferior. Threatening to bring in lawyers and sue me, threatening to have me arrested, acting as if it is their inborn right because they are wealthy to do whatever they please and it is our duty as "rural hicks" to wait on their every whim. I say to hell with them. They thought they were in some kind of business establishment that had to cater to them as "paying customers" because they bought a cup of hot chocolate. Well they were wrong.
![[identity profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/openid.png){kind=small}
no subject
Date: 2006-10-21 08:49 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2006-10-21 09:07 pm (UTC)We did host one musical event that first summer, for Gary's friends from the city. They were advised in the invitation that this was a working farm, and that there were places and things here that would be dangerous for unattended children and pets, etc. Well, several of them showed up with their kids and turned them loose to run. "Oh, it's the country, it's good for them." Right. Barbed wire, electric fences, skunks, bulls, beehives, and all. It's the country all right.
Well, we survived that without any disasters but by the end of the day I was ready for a nervous breakdown. We decided never again to do anything "open house" style where people who just didn't have a clue would be invited onto our property. Still need to put up the "No trespassing" signs though...
no subject
Date: 2006-10-21 10:33 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2006-10-21 08:58 pm (UTC)People like that can just f**k off, IMHO. It's sad that there are people who have such poor manners and bad attitudes :(
no subject
Date: 2006-10-21 09:03 pm (UTC)And vote Republican. I guarantee it. ;p
no subject
Date: 2006-10-21 09:11 pm (UTC)bless ya for not giving in to the
4sure republicans
peopleno subject
Date: 2006-10-21 09:20 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2006-10-21 10:02 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2006-10-21 10:30 pm (UTC)Truly, I have a lot of trouble understanding why people go to something that is obviously a musical performance venue and then treat it as if they were in a bar with the jukebox running.
Hopefully I've heard the end of it and nothing more will come of the situation.
no subject
Date: 2006-10-21 10:35 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2006-10-21 10:41 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2006-10-21 10:16 pm (UTC)The very definition of Yuppie.
Did the guy have a cellphone on one hip and a beeper on
the other like post-modern six guns?
Feh, I'm not country, I'm blue collar but I've had similiar
experiences.
Another reason to stay in Der Foxenbunker.
no subject
Date: 2006-10-21 10:35 pm (UTC)He did have his cell phone on his hip and drew it as fast as Wyatt Earp's six gun to threaten me with the police for "molesting" his wife. I think he was stuck there because it wasn't a 911 situation and his pre-programmed number for the police was for a municipality 40 miles from here. In fact, we have no police. He'd have had to call the county sheriff's office. One of the women was urging him to take my picture with it. Their sheer arrogance and lack of any consideration for others was really shocking, even for yuppie types.
no subject
Date: 2006-10-21 10:26 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2006-10-21 10:32 pm (UTC)So come with me and find solace in our natural world.
Please fly me.
Imperator.
no subject
Date: 2006-10-21 10:44 pm (UTC)This now reminds me of the time a jerk in a Lexus nearly ran over me in a pedestrian crosswalk. He was busy talking on his cell phone at the time, of course. I kicked his fender so hard it scratched his paint job and left a dent. He drove down the block after me yelling, half-parked the car and got out to threaten me. I told him to get off the phone and pay attention to his driving and kept walking. Of course I could have been killed that time, or badly hurt. I haven't tried that trick again.
no subject
Date: 2006-10-22 01:50 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2006-10-22 11:59 am (UTC)Nuzzes and hugs ya
Date: 2006-10-22 03:59 am (UTC)Re: Nuzzes and hugs ya
Date: 2006-10-22 12:00 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2006-10-22 06:00 am (UTC)Reminds me of some mother at the local library, complaining about the fines she racked up, she said "In NSW they don't charge such high fines" this was after about 10minutes of ranting while there were people waiting so I said "Perhaps you should go back down there, now just pay the fine and leave like everyone else" She turned to me but was rather suprised to see 10 other people in the line all glaring at her so she thought it was best to pay and leave, hee hee.
no subject
Date: 2006-10-22 12:01 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2006-10-22 06:01 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2006-10-22 06:18 am (UTC)To quote from from Blackadder, "Sir Thomas Moore, burned alive for refusing to recant his Catholicism, must have been kicking himself as the flames grew higher that it never occured to him to say... I recant my Catholicism"
I wouldn't worry though Tivo, Karma gets back at those people, they'll probably be violently mugged at home and have to rely on charity for the rest of their lives.
no subject
Date: 2006-10-22 12:03 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2006-10-22 10:05 am (UTC)It just is that where ever you go, rude people are there :/
I have also experienced similar experiences, but I haven't done anything
about them because of my weak build and low confidence. But I tell you
that, I think those people are getting what they deserve in time.
No point letting them ruin your day. Karma actually works. ;)
*hugs the hossie and offers a cup of hot chocolate*
no subject
Date: 2006-10-22 12:05 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2006-10-22 03:58 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2006-10-22 10:42 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2006-10-24 03:13 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2006-10-24 10:05 am (UTC)