It was pointed out to me that I was correct in being concerned about the amount of litter generated at school lunch times and on the way to and from school. But said the person we must lay the blame where it belongs with those who teach them that such behaviour is acceptable. Point taken. On my way home I was delayed by work on the road. Another of those notices telling us to beware there is a new road layout ahead. Now there is a form of unnecessary litter. Those who travel the road will have seen the changes taking place so are not requiring to be warned. Those new to the road will not be aware of the new layout anyway it will all be new. So up they go theses signs. When is it not longer a new layout and the sign can be taken down? Never it would seem. I run past one such sign daily that has been there so long it can hardly be read because of all the moss growing on it. Those of us who paint landscapes are also aware of the growth in health and safety notices all over the place. Beware of deep water, and when you look over to see it is a trickling brook. Or the most famous on an electricity pole, “Do not climb electrical power,” not just on the first pole but every single pole in bright yellow. Health and safety gone mad. The Fear of the culture of a suing society.




Takes me back to another incident when I was working in the butchery trade. One day I was waiting for a customer to decide which meat I was to slice. I was passing my knife from one hand to the other and back. The knife slipped and made a small cut on the finger of the customer. I apologised profusely and went to get the first aid box to apply a bandage. I did this as neatly as I could and tied it off with a beautiful reef knot. As I took the two ends to trim them off I cut the customers thumb. We joked about it for months afterwards, how she would rather I laid the knife down before serving her. In today’s society this incident would have cost us a small fortune, and maybe rightly so.



Anyway the bottom line is this, it is not only young people who are responsible for ruining the beauty of our environment.