Cities, towns, and counties all over have concerts and festivals, plays and parties, carnivals and celebrations. When weather permits, and sometimes when it doesn’t, these events are held outdoors. This can be great fun. It can also be a huge disaster. For many of us, it
falls someplace in between, but probably not as close to the fun side. So, without further ado, here are my own top five frustrations with attending an outdoors event. These are today’s frustrations. I reserve the right to come up with more the next time I go to one of these.
5. Lack of seating. For some of us, standing is very hard, but we don’t have scooters or wheelchairs. Folding chairs are too heavy to carry. Where there is seating, it’s usually taken. This makes for a difficult, painful, tiring experience.
4. Lack of healthy food choices. Don’t get me wrong, I love fried dough as much as the next girl; I also know what will happen to me
if I eat it, especially if it isn’t balanced out with some fruit. Yes, we could all bring our own food, but that gets tricky. Would be it so terrible if they had a few healthier options?
3. Weather. Sometimes we know what to expect that day, but sometimes we don’t. Weather changes can make the whole excursion much more difficult than it would otherwise be. If it’s suddenly hotter or colder or more humid than expected, our bodies can react very strongly. It’s pretty tough to prepare for something like that. And indoor temperature-controlled venues are usually rare, unless you’re willing to miss out on the festivities (and sometimes not even then.)
2. Crowds. These things tend to bring in a lot of people. If they didn’t, they wouldn’t be held. It’s tough to constantly be bumped into, stepped on, even brushed against. It would be nice to have an invisible field around me to keep people at a good distance, to force them to respect my personal space. Unfortunately, we haven’t caught up to the promises of Star Trek yet (yes, I’m a fan.)
1. Getting to and from. Getting to these things can be challenging, but that can often be worked out. The harder part is usually leaving. By the end, we’re tired and in pain and the car/bus/home seems very far away. Those last yards can feel like miles. If only the staff gave piggy-back rides….
Well, those are my top frustrations. What are yours?
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Chronic Rants 