Announcement

Collapse
No announcement yet.

Balderdasha's 2021 litter picking thread

Collapse
X
 
  • Filter
  • Time
  • Show
Clear All
new posts

    Originally posted by Balderdasha View Post
    I also find a lot of diabetic needle wrappers. I only know what they are because one of the mum's I'm friends with has to inject herself several times a day. That's got to suck. The only time I had to have daily infections was after my caesareans. I had to have anti-blood clotting injections in my stomach a couple of times a day for a couple of weeks. Both times I wimped out and made my husband do it.
    My wife had to give herself those injections for 6 weeks but only once a day.

    Comment


      And if you have Twitter you should show your son the @lostfootballs account. It's very sad.

      Comment


        Originally posted by Patrick Thistle View Post

        Um. This typo made me wince.

        Are they safety needles because I think those get given out at needle exchanges now. (They are also used by people who need insulin if they aren't using pens with built in needle cartridges.)
        Yes unfortunate typo. Perfectionist in me wants to go and correct it but I'll leave it be.

        I think they're the automatic retracting needles. Same ones as I had.

        Comment


          Went out with just my daughter at lunchtime today (son was refusing to get dressed and I didn't have time to argue the toss). We went on a walk and talk / litter pick loop to the local pub (just walking past), then park, then home. She's learning about the Amazon and journalism so I got her to interview me about my trip there when I was 19. Found some sort of really weird large white plastic object. Was so heavy that I couldn't pick it up with the litter picker so we just shunted it to lean against the nearest bin and hope the council will collect it. No idea what it was. The blue hat with orange bobble that I saw a week or two ago still hadn't been claimed and was now soaking wet so that went in the bin. Found a half shredded red and purple tennis ball (I find quite a lot of what seem to be lost dog toys).

          Total litter picking expeditions to date: 22
          Total bags of rubbish collected to date: 31
          Money found to date: GBP 1.02.

          Comment


            Went out with just my son at lunchtime today. He enjoys litter picking more than his sister. I let him lead the route and point out any rubbish. He led us on a very nice two mile round trip from the house, mostly in countryside, while talking non-stop about "spooky levels" in the forests (we have been playing too much Luigi's Mansion 3). Found a broken watch, a black sock, an almost full 2 litre water bottle (quite tricky to move with a litter picker), and my son found a penny. Collected two bags of litter.

            Total litter picking expeditions to date: 23
            Total bags of rubbish collected to date: 33
            Money found to date: GBP 1.03.

            Comment


              30 years ago I bought my first home, a maisonette in a quite secluded block of 9.

              The other residents were a mixed bunch but no real shockers. After being there a couple of weeks I started to get really irritated by the amount of litter lying around the communal lawn, garages and driveway.

              So one Sunday I filled a rubbish bag full

              The next week I filled a couple of plastic bags

              Week after maybe one plastic bag

              After doing this a couple more Sundays I started to notice there was no litter any more, and a couple of other residents starting to pick up anything they saw during the week. It stayed like that for the next 20 years. Without trying to sound like some cheesy proverb on Instagram I realised there are three types of people in the world
              1. People who drop litter
              2. People who ignore litter
              3. People who pick up litter
              Get a few 3's in your neighbourhood and you'll find the 1's turn into 2's and a few of the 2's turn into 3's

              Comment


                Had a busy week at work so didn't get round to updating this. Managed two quick trips during the week with one bag each time. This week I've taken two days off work for half-term. Mostly I'm exhausted and catching up on sleep, but I managed to take the kids out today for a longer walk to a different park and picked three bags of litter on the way. Unusual finds: a tube of super glue, a hairband in the colours of my daughter's school uniform.

                Total litter picking expeditions to date: 26
                Total bags of rubbish collected to date: 38
                Money found to date: GBP 1.03.
                Last edited by Balderdasha; 23-02-2021, 10:20.

                Comment


                  Originally posted by colchestersid View Post

                  After doing this a couple more Sundays I started to notice there was no litter any more, and a couple of other residents starting to pick up anything they saw during the week.
                  In the '80s, one of the transit companies (I'm remembering it was the Toronto Transit Commission, but that could just be local bias) did a study on litter that showed the same thing. If there was no litter in a station, nobody would litter. If they threw down a candy bar wrapper, two or three more would join it within the hour. Mess attracts mess, basically. This message ran for ages in the subway cars imploring people not to be the first litterer.

                  Comment


                    Took the kids out at lunchtime yesterday. The pond / giant puddle that has been loitering on the grass for the last couple of months has started to dry up. Good thing because the stagnant water is really starting to stink. In its place it has left a huge mud swamp. We went out in wellies and the kids thought it was really exciting to literally get "stuck in the mud" rather than just playing the game "stuck in the mud". I had to rescue their wellies a few times. Also, a path had been cut through some of the bracken to an area that the kids and their friends like to use as a secret hideout in the summer, so we went through there and pulled two bags full of rubbish out. A few bits of rubbish, crisp wrappers, empty bread bags, were semi buried in the undergrowth and we had to dig them out.

                    Total litter picking expeditions to date: 27
                    Total bags of rubbish collected to date: 40
                    Money found to date: GBP 1.03.

                    Comment


                      Originally posted by Balderdasha View Post
                      That route takes me past a section with billboards where people seem to take down the old adverts and then just stuff them in a hedge. Managed to pull one large disintegrating poster and some sacking out from behind some railings. One huge canvas advert is too big for me to move on my
                      The main road north from us has this- I wondered if the benefit of the doubt would be the wet weather, they fell off but even so the ad companies have a responsibility to pick up their stuff.
                      I meant to ring or email to report it last time I walked there...along with the call to the council about their vans speeding past the park, to the bus co. about their speed past the school etc etc

                      Comment


                        Some inspiration for you, Balders: https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/av/uk-eng...ffolk-56173845

                        Comment


                          Went litter picking with my mum yesterday and picked a bag each. Went for a walk by myself today and picked one bag. No particularly unusual items. A milk carton, a half-buried tennis ball, several cans, etc.

                          Total litter picking expeditions to date: 29
                          Total bags of rubbish collected to date: 43
                          Money found to date: GBP 1.03.

                          Comment


                            We have general waste pickup weekly and recycling and green waste alternate weeks, all included in our rates. We also have 2 free council 'clean-ups' a year where they'll pick up old furniture etc. Which brings me to my story...

                            A year or two ago I bought a new battery powered 'whipper-snipper' (I don't know what these are called elsewhere) used to trim around trees, edges etc. The one it replaced was mains powered and was in perfect working order. When we have council clean-ups, there's hoardes of people driving small trucks/utes around scavenging through what's been put out, which is generally fine by me as I see it as a form of recycling. So, I'm putting the old whipper-snipper out and a bloke drives up in a ute and gets out and I show him the whipper-snipper and tell him it's in working order. He takes it and I go back into the house. When I come out later, the whipper-snipper is back on my front lawn MINUS THE FOOT LONG POWER CABLE STUB THAT COMES OUT OF THE HANDLE. He'd snipped it off, rendering the thing useless, all for a tiny bit of copper presumably. And he probably burns off the insulation in a polluting fire. C*nt.

                            Comment


                              Quick trip to the park with the kids. One bag picked. Found an orange wax crayon, and a large blue and purple spider cuddly toy. Left that on top of a post to see if anyone will reclaim it.

                              Total litter picking expeditions to date: 30
                              Total bags of rubbish collected to date: 44
                              Money found to date: GBP 1.03.

                              Comment


                                Two or three times a week I clear up an assortment of fast food packaging from outside my house - typically McDonalds (less than half a mile away), though sometimes more travelled items from White Castle and Chick-fil-A. There aren't many trash cans around, though I am rather sad that people cannot just keep the stuff in their car for a while longer.

                                Comment


                                  I have a theory that adults who lob fast food wrappers out of cars are hiding the evidence that they've broken their strict weight loss diet from their spouse, partner, flatmates.

                                  Comment


                                    Originally posted by Patrick Thistle View Post
                                    I have a theory that adults who lob fast food wrappers out of cars are hiding the evidence that they've broken their strict weight loss diet from their spouse, partner, flatmates.
                                    That doesn't really hold water where I am.

                                    Comment


                                      Originally posted by Patrick Thistle View Post
                                      I have a theory that adults who lob fast food wrappers out of cars are hiding the evidence that they've broken their strict weight loss diet from their spouse, partner, flatmates.
                                      I have a theory that they are selfish ignorant pricks.

                                      Comment


                                        My theory too.

                                        Comment


                                          Originally posted by Antepli Ejderha View Post

                                          I have a theory that they are selfish ignorant pricks.
                                          Oh that is definitely highly probable too.

                                          Comment


                                            They can be both.

                                            Comment


                                              Lovely weather out in the park today. Son went digging in the sandpit. Daughter practiced with her bow and arrow, then went to play football with a boy from her class. Unusual finds today include: a bike mud guard, a child's reusable face mask with Nintendo switch patterns on it, a child's white and red sock with silver stars.

                                              Total litter picking expeditions to date: 31
                                              Total bags of rubbish collected to date: 45
                                              Money found to date: GBP 1.03.

                                              Comment


                                                I've seen a lot of disposable masks as litter. I presume they fall out of people's pockets or car doors.

                                                Comment


                                                  Originally posted by Patrick Thistle View Post
                                                  I've seen a lot of disposable masks as litter. I presume they fall out of people's pockets or car doors.
                                                  One of mine was taken by the wind while cycling.

                                                  Comment


                                                    I find disposable masks most days that I go litter picking.

                                                    Comment

                                                    Working...
                                                    X