Rude departure

I mentioned in yesterday's post that my brother hoped to attend a carnival today. Well, despite the damp weather, he did, and the carnival had a strong turnout. The parade traversed the town as per usual and then people went into the main recreation ground for the post-parade segment of the carnival. A history-related acting performance started sometime after the park opened.

Sadly, that part of the carnival was ruined. No, it wasn't the weather that ruined it nor was it the acting performance; rather it was the reaction of those in attendance that ruined it. My brother enjoyed the performance, but said that by the time it was over, more than 60% of the attendees had left; he watched people depart the park in droves as it went on...and the performance was only half an hour long. Worse yet, the sudden mass reduction in turnout then caused the carnival to end sooner than expected.

It annoys me when people do this! Unless the actors are being paid to perform at various across across Northamptonshire, it's most likely that they were all volunteers for the carnival; the hard work they put into their rehearsals was due to their care for the community rather than for monetary gain. The least people could have done was watch the performance, even if most of them had little interest in history or live acts; leaving the vicinity and causing the carnival to close early was deeply inconsiderate to both the actors and the remaining attendees.

My brother said that he otherwise enjoyed the carnival and that he deeply appreciated the performance. The act contained an anti-war message, as today is the 100th anniversary of the assassination of Archduke Franz Ferdinand, which led to the start of World War I; because of this, I find it all the more despicable that people walked out.