Editorial: Revellers must clean up their act

In the wake of pretty well each and every Mission Concert ... except maybe for the first one which had Dame Kiri Te Kanawa filling the hills with the sound of music, there has also been the sound of grumbling.

Of complaint.

Generally it is generated as a result of the logistics of the event.

Like the huge amount of people, the huge amount of associated refuse, the uneven terrain and the need to vacate the premises through paths and exitways no wider than the average driveway.

If there was a positive to come out of some acts who were less-than-inspiring to the great mass of humanity, it would have to be that there was no great surge towards the exits at home time ... as a great percentage had already upped sticks and gone.

But when you get the likes of Rod Stewart, or Sting, then you get big crowds who shrug off the evening chill to stay to the very last note.

Sadly, a great number of those in the crowd arrive with bad habits.

I watched many people make no effort whatsoever to take their empty bottles or cans to one of the bins. They simply left them on the grass.

It's called being lazy and selfish.

The result of a human condition effectively poisoned by the contents those empty bottles once contained.

I'm not opposed to having a drink or allowing others to have a few but when you are on someone else's property you are obliged to leave things as you found them.

What do these people do when they go visit someone?

Leave their empties on the carpet?

There were several thousand people at the Gatsby Picnic during Art Deco weekend but I didn't spot a battalion of volunteer cleaners at work the following day. Everyone took their stuff with them.

Basically, for many people, the Mission day out is all about keeping the glasses topped up, and at the end of that day staggering out unencumbered by the empties they produce.

Don't blame the organisers ... blame the people who can't clean up after them.

Two things to mention here. Next time, take a rubbish bag and take a torch. Take your rubbish and illuminate your way out where required.

And it's odd ... no one complains about having to walk into the venue ... all the complaints are about having to get out.

The only thing that has changed is the light (it's night-time) the landscape of debris everyone has to step through, and the condition people are in. And if you don't want to be part of the mass exit just hang back for 25 minutes. It's not a long time given the five hours spent on the hillside from opening time to the main act appearing.

At the end of the day, any delays or discomforts are surely negated by the reason for it all.

Seeing a class act at a class venue.

We are lucky to have it here and believe me, the organisers break their backs, and often their hearts, in ensuring it gets to stay here.