Ypres - Esses Farm Cemetery, disrespectful?

Mr Bump said:
i have seen some odd threads here lately and this one is certainly one.

old woman picking flowers in a cemetary ?

is it such a slow day for some folk.

quite frankly myself and my wife often pick wild flowers and would in this occasion.

quite frankly OP i think you probaly did overreact.
maybe those womans husbands or relatives are buried there and you probably caused them great distress.
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Dont you think wild flowers are their for everybody,not just for a few to come along and pick what they please :(
 
simonblue said:
Dont you think wild flowers are their for everybody,not just for a few to come along and pick what they please :(
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They are there for everyone ;) different cultures and laws of the land and all that. I grew up that it is fine to do that, I don't know the ladies background. But if she was Belgium I'm sure she it at silversurferforums talking about the incredibly rude English.

There is always more than one side to every story and I think this is a total overreaction and unnecessary intervention. Although I can appreciate the OPs connection as well. But let's just remember why those soldiers were fallen and bring that into context.
 
Mr Bump said:
quite frankly OP i think you probaly did overreact.
maybe those womans husbands or relatives are buried there and you probably caused them great distress.
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As were mine, hence the visit to this particular cemetery.

So horticultural question,as I don't know the answer. Poppies - are they biannual or annual. Do they need to seed to reproduce the flowers or just to spread. I know they can lie dormant in the soil for several years.

My thoughts were, by picking the flowers they wouldn't get to seed, it had every evidence of being a sown wild meadow and as it was on one of the paths leading to the memorial and there were a number in this party who were trampling down the areas to get to the poppies, it felt disrespectful, didn't feel right and I thought was spoiling it for others. As such, rather than the usual British way of just tutting, I tried to politely speak to those and the tour guide (hence the over reacting from just tutting :) )

Hence the question. Only by discussing it with ones peers, from a wide range of opinions, do we get further understanding and for that I thank you for your answers, aprat from those proffering a violent solution. Really?
 
It isnt disrespectful to the dead.
The dead don't care.
 
I've not been to that Cemetery - but I've been to others .

My feeling is we don't know enough. I'm unhappy about the removal of bunches of the poppies - after all they are used to remind us of the sacrifices made for us by our forces and all the others who fought.

At the same time - perhaps these ladies were taking some poppies home to people who were unable to make that pilgrimage because of ill health etc , and had someone they knew buried there. To them a poppy would have been a tangible reminder of that person.
 
Total over-reaction, life's too short!
 
Byker, poppies grow best on freshly disturbed soil, like ploughed or turned over by repeated bombardments, hence their proliferation on the First World War battlefields. Picking a few (and in the great scheme of things, even a couple of armfuls is only a few) won't make any real difference to next year's crop. The Corn Poppy is an annual and each flower sets hundreds if not thousands of seeds which can lie dormant for years, waiting for the right conditions to germinate and grow.
 
It is disrectful but I wouldn't have said anything because having a slanging match there also smacks of disrespect , wherever it is you'll always get people with no respect, I once stood in front of a Japanese tourist who was trying to take pictures using flash in the Cairo museum despite there being signs everywhere asking people not to.

He wasn't very happy when he realised me moving from side to side in front of him wasn't an accident but he got the message when I pointed at the diagram of a camera flash with a big X through it and stomped off.

I wasn't allowed to follow him as my wife thought there'd be an international incident which would end up with a dented priceless relic so he probably just carried on with one eye over his shoulder
 
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Nod said:
Byker, poppies grow best on freshly disturbed soil, like ploughed or turned over by repeated bombardments, hence their proliferation on the First World War battlefields. Picking a few (and in the great scheme of things, even a couple of armfuls is only a few) won't make any real difference to next year's crop. The Corn Poppy is an annual and each flower sets hundreds if not thousands of seeds which can lie dormant for years, waiting for the right conditions to germinate and grow.
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But if everybody turning up on the day grabbing armfuls,the poppy would soon be gone for other to enjoy going to that site :(
 
simonblue said:
But if everybody turning up on the day grabbing armfuls,the poppy would soon be gone for other to enjoy going to that site :(
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But they don't.
Hence the poppies still bloom year on year as they have since well before the events they now represent.
 
viv1969 said:
But they don't.
Hence the poppies still bloom year on year as they have since well before the events they now represent.
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Sorry what i meant to say is if your visiting it on the day,and everybody grabbed armfuls on that day,they would soon be gone on that day,and it might be your only chance to visit the place,or you have gone on that day to see the poppies, because you no they will be their.
I no they will regrow but not on the same day :(
 
simonblue said:
Sorry what i meant to say is if your visiting it on the day,and everybody grabbed armfuls on that day,they would soon be gone on that day,and it might be your only chance to visit the place,or you have gone on that day to see the poppies, because you no they will be their.
I no they will regrow but not on the same day :(
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Yes but think about it....how likely is that.... Really?

The reality is that a few people take a few poppies, and in all likelihood always have done.
On this occassion they were accosted by some indignant visitor who took it upon themselves to vent their spleen.
I know which action I find more distasteful.
 
viv1969 said:
Yes but think about it....how likely is that.... Really?

The reality is that a few people take a few poppies, and in all likelihood always have done.
On this occassion they were accosted by some indignant visitor who took it upon themselves to vent their spleen.
I know which action I find more distasteful.
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Or you could look at it another way,most visitor are more respectful,and leave the poppies alone for others to see.
 
simonblue said:
Or you could look at it another way,most visitor are more respectful,and leave the poppies alone for others to see.
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How is it disrespectful?
Those buried there didn't give their lives for a poppy field.
Plus....they're dead. Only the indignant living care one bit about it.
 
simonblue said:
Or you could look at it another way,most visitor are more respectful,and leave the poppies alone for others to see.
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Well that rather depends on one important bit of info that Byker has been asked for but still not provided yet; ie what nationality were they.

Different countries have different gauges as to what is and what is not acceptable.
 
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