|
|
Post by andy on Sept 16, 2007 10:21:23 GMT
Upon the arrival of our latest Japanese student who has been here for 2 weeks now, I was keen to show her what a glorious country we live in with its rolling green hills, superb natural flora and fauna and fresh air to boot.
So with her arm twisted firmly behind her back (you will come for a nice walk with me type thing !!!), i frog-marched the poor girl on a 3 miles hike.
Unfortunately, i was barely out of the front door when we had to start the game of "dodge the dog ****"...a game that was to be continued for most of the journey.
We walked down a twittern (An alley to those living outside Sussex) with a railway bank nearby only to be faced with beer cans, paper, old chairs and a few discarded pushbikes. Over the railwayline bridge and down towards our local duckpond saw us start a new game...."guess which store the shopping trolley comes from". The trees on the islands looked more like christmas trees with the amount of fishing tackle hanging from them and the local winos were doing their usual urinating in full view, throwing up in the pond and just generally intimidating anyone smaller than themselves.
Over the river bridge and the rive looked lovely. The swans were gorgeous and the scaffolding poles and traffic cones sticking out of the water's surface matched the swans beauty.
The park next and after the continuing game of "dodge the s**t", we were faced with small but very beautifully arranged....modern art stylee.....piles of litter left 20 yards or so from the overflowing litter bins from the local chavs the previous evening.
On to the town....our historic county town of East Sussex with it's incredible flint churches, a 12th century castle and a 16th century bookshop still being used today.
However, the game of "dodge the s**t" was getting boring now and wa replaced by litter wading. A game where you wade ankle deep in kebab wrappers, cardboard boxes, broken beer bottles and other litter. Spot the graffitti was a good game too.
The delightful aroma of stale urine coming up from shop doorways was only surpassed by the smell of stale beer from the winos who slept in them.
And so back home we trudged. At the end i tried explaining to her that it's not always like this....only from Thursday to Sunday and if you looked out of the bedroom window, we have lovely countryside as far as the eye can see....all the litter, burnt out cars and other rubbish are all on the other side of the hedges.
I bet she was well impressed !!!
|
|
|
|
Post by Weeterrier on Sept 16, 2007 10:35:23 GMT
It's shaming Andy. I live down a leafy single track lane on the edge of the Loch Lomond National Park. It is a little bit of quiet heaven. Ideal for fly-tippers to come down, undisturbed and hidden, to dump all sorts of stuff. Yesterday, we had an old washing machine and cooker. The council pick up the big things like that, but in Spring they provide a skip so that the residents can go round and pick up all the smaller bits a pieces. We make a day of it, with a bun-fight when we're finished. But, we are afraid to pick up bags sometimes, afraid of what nasties might be lurking. This Spring, we found a whole fitted kitchen, in pieces of course, thrown over the wall. And the chassis of a motorbike  |
|
|
|
Post by Deleted on Sept 16, 2007 12:37:05 GMT
Oh Andy, you could be talking about Dublin ... although I guess you expect it in a city. We live between a river and a canal, both of which - at low tide - are stuffed with old appliances, shopping trolleys and (once) even a wheelchair (perhaps someone experienced the Miracle of Ballybough?). On weekend mornings, our front garden is a rubbish tip ... yesterday I was cutting back a bush to find that three cans had actually been pushed into the centre of it. Urine and vomit are the order of the day in doorways, and people seem to regard rubbish bins as nothing more than strange street ornaments, with no practical use ... but it was a nice thought to take your guest out and show her around! ... cheers ...
|
|
|
|
Post by MamIDdau on Sept 16, 2007 13:03:59 GMT
Actually CC, I had that experience of Dublin when I visited and really wasn't impressed by my visit there. Looked no different to Manchester and the people we met weren't exactly welcoming either.
We ended up spending most of our day on the DART and went from end to end and went to the seaside.
|
|
|
|
Post by Deleted on Sept 16, 2007 13:13:46 GMT
Actually CC, I had that experience of Dublin when I visited and really wasn't impressed by my visit there. Looked no different to Manchester and the people we met weren't exactly welcoming either. Oh dear, April - I'm really sorry to hear you had such a bad experience ... hopefully next time will be better  ... cheers ... |
|
|
|
Post by nightowl on Sept 16, 2007 13:53:27 GMT
Andy, I sincerely hope you have taken her further than Lewes town to show her a slightly more green and pleasant view of our countryside.  I think, sadly, these days urban rubbish is par for the course everywhere, but there is still plenty of unspoiled beauty on most of our doorsteps. You don't have to go that far for it.  |
|
|
|
Post by JennyWrenn on Sept 16, 2007 14:14:14 GMT
Front page my local paper were two boys that caused over £13,000 worth of damage to railways, bridges and similar with their graffiti - they were jailed for 15 months - good I thought an example to those who think they can smear our lovely countryside with slogans and banners BUT there is now a campaign, mainly started by parents, to get the poor little boys out of jail as they are really decent talented boys - Arghhhhhhhhhhhh  |
|
|
|
Post by Deleted on Sept 16, 2007 17:21:18 GMT
Yes we had two dear little altar boys who were run over by a train when they were playing on the railway line, blame the railways, it was obviously their fault that someone had broken down the fence and that two 12 year olds played chicken on a busy line. The train driver has had to retire, it has broken his nerve.
|
|
|
|
Post by Shrubrose on Sept 16, 2007 17:50:53 GMT
Yes we had two dear little altar boys who were run over by a train when they were playing on the railway line, blame the railways, it was obviously their fault that someone had broken down the fence and that two 12 year olds played chicken on a busy line. The train driver has had to retire, it has broken his nerve. Blame seems futile in these sorts of tragic situations, doesn't it? No-one wins. And all too often, all lose. |
|
|
|
Post by Biggles on Sept 24, 2007 20:33:38 GMT
Yes we had two dear little altar boys who were run over by a train when they were playing on the railway line, blame the railways, it was obviously their fault that someone had broken down the fence and that two 12 year olds played chicken on a busy line. The train driver has had to retire, it has broken his nerve. These days no one dare say anything to these "dear little angels" you only get a mouthful back or worse-- There are some very helpful, caring thoughtful youngsters but it is these "other thoughless ones" who spoil it for others-- |
|
|
|
Post by Susie Snowdrop on Sept 24, 2007 21:28:06 GMT
I know exactly how you feel Andy...................it was those little sh*ts in our woods that left the broken glass that slice Jazz's pad off  What's wrong with them  . I really can't work it out. It's just soooooo sad. I hope your Japanese friend doesn't think that all of us behave in such a way. S x |
|
|
|
Post by Deleted on Sept 25, 2007 11:23:36 GMT
Hey! Don't worry. Gordon Brown's going to sort it all out for us...he's only had ten years to do it in so far, what's another few going to hurt? |
|
|
|
Post by Biggles on Sept 25, 2007 19:27:49 GMT
|
|
|
|
Post by Chuckles on Sept 25, 2007 20:52:09 GMT
It's terrible really and doesn't seem to be getting any better. It appears to have stopped just lately though in my area. We used to get cars dumped and burnt out down some of our lanes, also all manner of househiold items, beds, cookers etc etc. You will have to take her further a field Andy so she can see some of our green and pleasant land before she goes home |
|
|
|
Post by Deleted on Sept 26, 2007 11:43:58 GMT
Apologies for my mini-rant yesterday, but it constantly dismays me the way people just don't seem to have any pride in their area anymore or accept responsibility for their actions. It's always someone else's mess or someone else's fault. We have a dump near us which is situated in a rural area and should be a lovely place for a drive. Instead, the roadside for about two miles in either side of the dump are strewn with sofas, washing machines and all other sorts of rubbish, and the plain fact of the matter is that until we bring in tougher sentences against flytippers, and by that I mean long prison terms and/or public flogging, then it's just going to continue because nobody's afraid of the law anymore. We also need to give the police the financial backing and manpower they require to deal with offences, and by that I mean they need to be freed up from bloody filling in forms, get rid of those useless mickey mouse cops that Labour introduced that the police don't even want, and get more officers out doing what they should be doing...protecting the public and the environment we live in! AAAAARRRGGHHHHH! MY HEAD'S GOING TO EXPLODE!!!!! |
|
... cheers ...
. I really can't work it out. It's just soooooo sad.
