Sunday 13 April 2008

A little tale of Poo

Oh lovely it was, just last week, a warm sunny day in April, birds singing, sun shining and all was well with the World – you know the sort of thing.

So there I was out walking the dogs – no one around – breathe out and relax perfect. Then I spied what looked like a tissue. I had to walk right past it so couldn't fail to see it and nooooo it wasn't a tissue. It was a neatly tied white plastic bag full of . . . dog poo . . .yes dog poo, sitting there with great smugness amongst the moss. Eeeeeuuuuooowwwww. It was already sweating in the sun the bacteria inside going rampant in the warmth. Bleah. Ah but wait, maybe the owners of said poo were returning the same way and would be back to retrieve and dispose of the offending article. Comforted that this would be the case I walked on. Pleased that there were people in the world who were thoughtful enough to bag up their dog's poo . . .although burying it would have done. I will point out here that I did not open the bag and investigate – it was obvious enough what was in the bag . . . I do have a life you know.




The next day was chilly and overcast, but ok. The dogs and I set off for our daily walk. And very quickly we encountered another neatly tied bag – black this time – also full of poo . . . Ah well it too was probably waiting to be collected.






Further down the track though we came across bag number one . . .eeeek. Still there and clearly laying claim to its place in our landscape. Berlimey . . . still maybe they would both be collected tomorrow. But no . . . and a week later they are still there. Which led me to thinking WHY!!!! What on earth went through the mind of whoever had done this. They had gone to all the trouble of collecting and bagging up and securing the bag and then . . .just left it there. Was the act of tying the bag the limit of their thought. Or if not, what did they think was going to happen to the bag. Did they imagine the Poo Police would be smartly along to collect it Neeee Naaa Neee Naaaa – thank you kindly sir. Or maybe they had reasoned it was ok to leave them because the bags are bio-degradable. Eeeek the thought of that festering package being eventually released doesn't bear thinking about it. And if that was the thought process that would mean the country side would be littered with neatly tied, bacteria multiplying packages . . . Or maybe they just didn't think . . . but surely there had to be some thought to have taken the doggy bags with them and used them in the first place. Hah this crime would be considered pre – mediated then. I say 'them' because I did come across a non local couple with a small black dog . . . No I didn't ask because they were walking in the 'towards' direction of the poo and at this point I was still hopeful that they might be in return, collect and dispose mode. Sigh . . .nope.

Out in the country side I see no problem with just scooping the poop into a hole and covering it. After all dogs generally try with little success to cover up their 'doings' so I just help things along. Plus there is plenty of poo of various types all over the countryside and I see no point in collecting up my dogs poop in a bag and binning it for someone else to deal with. My dogs, their poo, my problem. Although there is a school of thought that this sort of poo will affect the local ecology and in some areas people are no longer allowed to scatter the ashes of their deceased on the mountains . . .but that is another story.

I would actually love to have an open non-judgemental chat . . .revs chainsaw . . . with someone who has just chucked away their litter in the country side. I genuinely want to know WHY they think it is ok to do this. What do they think is going to happen to their discarded rubbish. There has to be some kind of reasoning even on a subconscious level. Why do people out for a walk in the countryside think it is ok to leave their food packaging and water bottles. Why would they want to spoil the very thing they were surely out to enjoy. I can sort of understand why this can be made ok in towns because there are systems in place for collecting rubbish – supply and demand – although it is still completely wrong. But WHAT is it that makes people wind down their car windows and chuck their rubbish out onto the grass verges, or to stop the car and dump a bin bag by the road side . . . .

Recently someone has gone to the trouble of driving a couple of miles up the track – and it really is just a track – and dumping a load of car tyres . . .er thank you . . . very picture skew. Last year someone dumped a sideboard . . .a little way up the track just off the road . . .mmmmmm. . . One time I caught a white van man trying to dump rubbish in our private bins (they are half a mile from our house at the road end – so rather vulnerable) – Mr van man got quite angry that the bins were locked . . . sigh . . . he was sent very smartly on his way . . .no doubt to dump elsewhere.

And I thought I would leave you with this picture of a car seat sitting out in the middle of the forest . . it has sat where it is for a very long time as you can see by the moss growing on it. Bit of a lateral thinker this one . . .



Maybe someone reading this can enlighten me as to the thought processes that are required to dump rubbish without feeling any guilt . . .and then when I have listened and failed to understand I will introduce TT into the equation.

19 comments:

Fennie said...

I am 100 per cent with you WW. Re the dog poo, I think these must be city types - programmed to bag up the poo but with no litter bins to put said boo in, (as there are in city parks) at a bit of a loss. Out in the forest in the late spring dog poo should disappear by itself in a couple of weeks. It is biodegradable, though the bags aren't. Maybe you should post a notice, 'dogs may poo here without the necessity for bagging.'

As for fly-tipping - we must be Britain's fly-tipping capital. So, so sad. There's a lovely lane, full of wild flowers, few cars, a beautiful walk,but constantly defaced by fly-tipping. Builders rubble mostly, but house clearance and once by 50 bicycles dropped off at 10 yard intervals all along the road. People have no pride anymore in their environment.

I should rev up the chainsaw again.

Milla said...

I just do not understand it and it drives me crazy. here, too, we encounter neatly bagged poo which is hung in the hedges as if it were some sort of ornament, as if the hedge were a Christmas tree and the bag a bauble. And yet our village has 2 dog poo bins. "Oh you are good," one old trout tells me when she sees me doing my bit with my little green bag, but the tone of her voice suggests she thinks I'm some sort of loser. She doesn't Poop'n'Scoop, maybe a generational thing, but her bugbear is cans strewn everywhere. Again, she goes to the trouble of picking them off the ground (so animals, I suppose, can't crawl in) and then balancing them precariously in, yup, the hedges. Weird. We have one excellent old chap here, who has been given a flurescent (sp??) jacket and strides out collecting litter EVERY day. When he started he'd get a bin bag full a day, now it's a carrier bag full. That he gets anything is shaming. The council (givers of the jacket) reward him with a case of wine each year. He's a rare thing. I imagine that house prices here will plummet when he pops his clogs...

Milla said...

PS love the chair, most surreal.

Faith said...

I too see nothing wrong with my dog pooing in a natural environment and like you I just bury it.

Just as bad round here or worse is the nappies in nappy bags chucked out of the car. They don't want a smelly nappy stinking out their car but don't mind ruining our lane. God forbid that they should ever use terry nappies and have to wash them!

I've even picked up (with a handy twig) condoms in the cemetery and this is a NICE place to live.

We have an old lady nearby who does the picking up of litter in her patch. Many people do bother, although I wish they didnt have to.

You are preaching to the converted here WW - I doubt any of us can understand the litter bugs and fly tippers. Walking down the country road that leads to us the other day I picked up a trashy newspaper, a can, and wrappers from sandwiches, choc bars etc. Obviously some van man's lunch just chucked out of the window and on he goes, not a care in the world.

Westerwitch/Headmistress said...

Oh I know I am preaching to the converted Faith - actually seems, from the above comments that I am getting off lightly!

WHY do people do it. No-one seems to take responsibility for their actions any more.

Norma Murray said...

These are problems we have to live with all the time. The council around here are very good at collection dumped rubbish, but in our quiet county lanes it is an ever gowing problem...and as for dog poo bags, The hedges around here are festooned with them. Poop, scoop and chuck it in the hedge. DON'T get me going....I might never stop!

Pondside said...

.....an old sofa, 3 million paper coffee cups, a golf ball, several days worth of newspaper, beer bottles, beer cans, a computer chair, several large black bags of household trash - all seen on the ride back from town this afternoon. It may be that people who have to pay extra to have their gargage collected look on the countryside as one big dump. Maybe they think our district is inhabited by legions of handymen who say "Look Ma - a broken sofa. It's perfectly good so we can take it to our country home and fix it up for our living room". One of my neighbours on the road actually went through a garbage bag and found discarded mail and turned it over to the police - I don't have that sort of dedication! I hate littering, and don't understand the dog-poo-as-tree-ornament at all!

Maggie Christie said...

Why wrap biodegradable poo in non-biodegradable plastic? Love the car seat - it's turning itself into modern art (or NOT as the case might be). I HATE fly-tippers.

I regularly run past a discarded (used) condom. Yuk. Doesn't seem to be biodegradable either. I once sat down to eat a sandwich with my little girls and one said (pointing, fortunately): "Mummy, what's that?" Yes. Used condom. We moved. Humans are disgusting.

Exmoorjane said...

Yup, same thing here. We even had one neatly placed in its bag on our steps. Ooh, thank you! We don't have nearly enough of our own poo here - how kind.
Yes, it's a pain poop-scooping (confess we never did until we moved here as really it was just one more lot of poo amidst all the other varieties out in the wide open spaces) - but it's a mark of civilised behaviour surely? Adrian, strong chap, bungs the bags in his pockets but I do leave them (but hidden so nobody thinks I'm being derelict in my duty) and collect on return.
Yes, agree totally WHERE is the logic of poop-scooping into a bag and then LEAVING it? Better to have just left the poo in the first place.
Though, being fair (shock, horror) it IS better than when we were young. I remember learning from an early age to pick my way through the excrement-encrusted pavements of my youth. 'Nice' dogs were taught to do it in the gutter. But that was back when dog poo was white and crumbly.

Manic Mother Of Five said...

Hi there. Not sure how I wondered over here but had to get on my soap box. I get absolutely livid when I see dog poo, bagged or otherwise. I always mutter to myself that how would the owner like it if I took one of my five to their street and let them poo......

As for litter, mine are all trained that it goes home or ELSE... No excuse for it whatsoever.

Rant over!

Nice meeting you by the way!

MMoF

Westerwitch/Headmistress said...

Eeeeek so I am not alone - although this is the first time in nine years that this has happened. There were no little presents yesterday so I suspect they were townies (the people , not the bags) and that they were staying in one of the cottages nearby and that they have now gone back to where ever they live. Probably up near you Milla - back to hanging bags of Poo on bushes.

Pipany said...

So disgusting and totally unnecessary (oops, not got spellingg hat on today). Did smile at the chair though xx

Chris Stovell said...

You write with so much humour about this but it is awful behaviour, isn't it? Trouble is it always fuels our dog/no dog debate with Tom snarling about wretched dogs and me telling him it's not the dogs' fault. Ho Hum!

DJ Kirkby said...

I just don't understand that at all! Why bag it and dump it? Why not just bury it and save the bag for soemthing else? I'd leave a sign by both poo bags saying just that. Grrrrrrrrrrr....

Sam Fox said...

How very odd. Like you, I'm completely puzzled by the effort gone to tidy up.... which then just ends there! Mighty perculiar.

Some of your other incidents brought to mind a rather selfish act we witnessed during summer - we were inside a cafe enjoying a coffee - a cafe in a strip of similar places along a busy Auckland thoroughfare. Glancing out the window I noticed a young mother changing baby's displosable nappy in the back seat of her car - needs must. BUT then Young Mum buckles Bubs back in to the seat thing and walks half a dozen steps to shove the poo-filled, stinky nappy in the litter bin on the pavement - right alongside the al fresco cafe tables - bet that was a nice place to have lunch in the sun later - NOT. Some people.

Pingu said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
Pingu said...

At least she didn't just dump the nappy on the pavement though like they would round our manor. It's unbelievable the things that people think are acceptable to just leave in the street in Harringey.

Regards the boil-in-the-bag dog eggs, the only logical answer is that they were pagan extremists on their hols and they are leaving presents for the dryads who have never seen plastic bags before!

Gill you should roll the tyres back to the house, stack them three high, fill them with soil and they're perfect for growing potatoes, carrots and other roots in.

Underground, overground, wombling free...

CAMILLA said...

Totally unnessary, and very ignorant. Can't understand why they would want to put in bag, then leave it there.

Heavens, why do they leave all sorts of things in forest, why not take to skip, er, probably too lazy to do so.

Camilla.xxx

DevonLife said...

Oh my lord am shocked! What are people like. the world does not cease to amaze me.