If there's one thing that gets me mad when I'm out and about it's litter. Is it just me or is the problem getting worse? Despite local authorities providing bins and putting up signs politely requesting the terminally ignorant to take their trash home every hedgerow, riverbank and lake shore seems contaminated with their detritus. On one occasion I surprised some twit about to empty the contents of a wheelie bin into the river. My "gentle" rebuke persuaded him otherwise. Another day I was wading up to a nice pool when a Neanderthal appeared on the high bank and actually instructed his sugar-overdosed offspring to chuck his empty plastic drinks bottle into the water. I couldn't intercept it in the fast current and by the time I turned back, expletives at the ready, the pair had gone.
This morning I was up at the reservoir nice and early. The sun was warm, the air was still. You could hear trout rise right out in the middle of the lake. The idyll was spoiled when I discovered the remains of a Neanderthal encampment along the shore. Several improvised barbecues and the ubiquitous cans, bottles and broken glass scattered beside and in the water. Yes! In the water! It's a ******* reservoir! We're supposed to drink the stuff!
Actually, I should apologise to our close cousins the real Neanderthals. Recent evidence shows that they were probably a lot smarter than we used to think. Undoubtedly they lived in harmony with their environment. If Neanderthals were around today they at least would probably recycle.
I could rant on about the related problem of dog fouling; but don't get me started.
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