I hate litter.
And I doubly hate litterers.
Last night, when I took the dog for her our evening walk, there were a couple of young lads sitting on the low metal fence that surrounds the green. They were talking loudly and stuffing biscuits and what-have-you down their gullets.
This morning, when I took the dog out for her our morning walk, I passed by the same area. Biscuit wrappers and empty crisp packets littered the ground, where they had just dropped them and then wandered off. Pure laziness and a complete disregard for the area.
Annoyed at this, I stopped, picked it all up and put it in the bin… which was quite easy to do, as it was less than three metres away!
Something that annoys me just as much – or even more – is fly-tipping.
We have some beautiful country lanes around here and it really gets my blood pressure up when I’m driving/riding along one of them, and I see an old washing machine sitting by the side of the road – dumped there under the cover of darkness and left for the taxpayer to foot the bill for clearing it up and disposing of it properly.
At work, there is an alleyway that runs parallel with the train line at the back of our car park. The alleyway has high fencing on either side of it.
And yet, someone has gone to a lot of effort to carry an old sofa down this alleyway – can’t have been easy, as it’s quite narrow – and then bodily lift it over a seven-foot high fence, in order to dump it on the grass verge next to the train tracks. Again, all done in the middle of the night, probably.
It would have likely been easier to take it to the local Tidy Tip, which is about half a mile away.
I know there are fines for littering and also for fly-tipping, but it doesn’t seem to deter anyone as the chances of being caught are negligible.
A stronger penalty is needed, in order to make these people think again about what it is they are doing.
Death, maybe.
Yep, I agree to stiffer penalties and not just for being a litter lout but it goes back to how do you police it. Like being stopped for drink driving, no ifs no buts, no points no fine. Just a life ban. But there are to many in the upper circles that would not want that to become law. Must put my soap box away now.
Have a nice day.
Yes, please dispose of your soap box responsibly.
Hahaha! Death! No prisoners, Masher!
I agree. My pet hate is dried and old chewing gum ALL over our streets. At first, you might think it’s a pattern in the Tarmac, but oh no. This is a confetti of gobbed out gum in mass and it’s insane! And, there’s loads of it right next to litter bins. The bin is RIGHT there you ignaramous!
It’s the only way, Jules.
Chewing gum should be taxed, like fags, and the money raised could be used to clean up the streets of the vile stuff.
Or maybe just introduce the death penalty for spitting gum.
Just don’t get me started!
Go on, TA, you let rip.
No, not like that.
Fly tipping is awful. We are so very fortunate to live in a very quiet, remote countryside village. We are meticulous with our rubbish, ensuring it goes to the appropriate place (or we get a skip in). But it winds us both up when we go for a walk and see half of somebody’s kitchen (or similar) stuffed across a bridleway. It happens far too often. Scandalous
Death, I say… DEEEAATH!
I am sure I have said this already but I am getting old and forgetful and ramble on quite a lot. Here in Franceland the local tip, (Dechetterie), is free for everyone to use including builders etc. so there is no need to fly tip. If you are caught fly-tipping you are visited by a gendarme. With a gun. A big semi-automatic gun. A big bloody scary gun.
I suspect you would like to see such things in the UK.
Yes, Dave; yes I would.
Even French ones.