Old Lad

What is it about our country that we tolerate litter and rubbish everywhere? I walk my dog each day up the small road we live on, and the verges and hedgerows are full of litter, most of it having been thrown from passing vehicles. The nerd that I now am in old age has carried out a survey of what is cast aside. In first place are Macdonalds containers, second are disposable coffee cups and third energy drink cans. Which makes me think that a lot of this stuff is deposited by late night workers – I’ve never actually caught anybody red handed during the day. Why do people do it?

WhenI was at school we had numerous lessons about litter, usually under the umbrella of the Keep Britain Tidy campaign. And such was the indoctrination that I can’t ever bring myself to chuck anything out of the car window. Our current generation of youngsters do get taught about the environment and the importance of not polluting it. And children often go on litter picks. But something seems to go wrong as they grow up.

I am writing this blog whilst sailing up the Norwegian coast towards the arctic. What has been striking about my brief experience of Norway is there seems to be an absence of litter. So what is different about the Norwegian psyche compared with us British? Mind you we are not the only ones in the World to leave our rubbish behind. Many years ago I worked in the Middle East for a year. Desert trips often revealed rubbish – believe it or not commonly Pepsi Cola bottles!

We really need to tackle the problem. Or is this just my inner grumpy old man talking. I’ll let you know what it’s like beyond the arctic circle!