A large spiky thistle growing outside a terraced house front door. Why? These are student lets’ and a lot of them are empty because the students have already left. I guess the landlords will come back and refurbish the houses or rooms. There was a lot of rubbish in the street, black plastic bags, litter and bits of old furniture. If they don’t clear away the plants their roots will take over and get into the foundations. I think its worse because everything has grown rampant because of all the rain we’ve been having.
A loud noise by our gate made me jump as I sat in the living room. For a moment I thought someone had jumped over it. I told hubby and he went out into the garden to check. He walked past the window spade in hand, ready to repel intruders. But I reran the image in my head, what I’d heard and seen, I think, was someone opening one of our wheelie bins in front of the gate, to throw rubbish in it.
I hate this nervy, hypervigilant me. I just want to be quiet and calm. I don’t need my blood pressure going sky high! And I don’t want hubby putting himself at risk!
But while I was having tea tonight I realised one of my rings was missing. One hubby had given me on our anniversary a few years ago. I’d had to wait for it because the one in the shop was a size too big. I eventually got it, gold with some diamond chips.
I suddenly looked down at my hand and felt something was missing. I did a double take and squinted, not realising it was gone. Just thinking it had shrunk….?
Searching, in bins, no, going through the recycling, no, but it must have slid off. I’ve lost a bit more weight and all my rings are getting loose. In the pedal bin, no, in the kitchen, on the floor? No…. Panic, where was it. Coat pockets, no, dressing gown pocket? No. Another bad thing today… Looked on the floor and swept up. No. Can’t vacuum incase it gets sucked up.
I remember a senior manager getting some students to search for her diamond ring through full vacuum cleaner bags! That was years ago.
Oh where are you? Handbag, got a torch… A GLINT of GOLD!
Oh great!!! I won’t need to contact the places we visited, or our insurance.
Where is it now? On my other little finger, crammed between two other ones. Hopefully safe now.
Our alleyway is blocked off by this pile of rubbish that a builder has moved off his land. I have reported it to my council a few times over the last few weeks. I haven’t chased it up as much as I could because of my sisters death. I hope it will be moved soon as it is preventing my neighbours access to the back of their properties. I think it’s disgusting that someone can just tip this and not face some form of action. Apparently the flats he has been working on are due to be shown on a TV housing auction show! Perhaps if he is paid an appearance fee he can use it to pay to clear up his mess!
Excerpt from an email to my local councillor about flytipping on our alleyway :
“Dear Councillor
Over the last few weeks the owners of xxxxx and the owner of xxxxxx London Road have dumped all this waste on our alleyway that includes access to the rear of our property at xxxx and also number x and x effectively blocking access for all three properties. The waste was originally moved from behind the xxxxx shop, they removed some of it but dumped the rest behind the flats. The owner of the flats or his workers dumped it on our alleyway. It is four or five feet high and at least twenty foot long. I have spoken to various people at the flats who promised it would be removed a fortnight ago. Instead the heap is getting bigger.
The owner said he was told to dump it on the alleyway and the council would remove it, he says he has chased it up with an officer called xxxxxx who assured him it would be removed by last Friday. I gave him my email address but don’t know if he will do as he says.
Will you please visit to see the problem. I am concerned that we will be left in a situation where we have to remove it which I cannot afford. It was rubbish on the left of the path including fly tipping and buddlea that had grown there over several years.”
I went on to add some personal details explaining why I cannot deal with this without my councillors support.
Seeing double.. Our bins have doubled overnight, which is great if you don’t mind having to fight your way past them or walking on the road. We should recycle but I try not to buy stuff in plastic tubs or bottles. In return they are cutting our collection to fortnightly. I can imagine our grey bin overflowing by then. We really did not need extra plastic on the street. It’s just cost cutting again.
I was depressed by the amount of rubbish floating in the canal today. It was in an area close to Stoke Town centre.
I saw many old plastic bottles, they were dirty, as if they had been stored somewhere outside and then dumped together into the canal later. There were bits of broken wood and even an old set of mudguards from a bike floating on the surface. It makes me angry, because this section of canal is part of our city. How disgusting that stuff can just be dumped. Then further on towards Dolphin Boats but on the other side was a burnt out motor scooter. No one seems to care. I tagged in the Canal and Rivers Trust. I hope they can arrange a clean up.
It’s happening here in my home city all the time. I report it but the council probably don’t have the staff to deal with it anymore because of the cuts (austerity cuts in local government by our National government). A few years ago the council used to have days when people could have their bulky rubbish collected, but now people have to pay to take stuff to the tip and they don’t have the money. They should be encouraged not charged to use the tip. Also I guess covid isn’t helping…
The world is full of rubbish, plastic, toxic waste, pollution, CO2, fluorocarbon, the list seems endless. What we leave in our neighbourhoods is just a small part of the wreck we are making of the Earth.
Mallaband-Brown 