Sunday, April 12, 2015

The road to ruin is littered with dashed hopes

Someone's lottery scratcher did not produce a win, so it was carelessly tossed out of a car window onto the side of the road. The ticket's pretty colors will compete with the wildflowers until rain and sunlight cause it to decompose. Once again, I did not pick up this piece of litter I encountered on a recent walk with Callie.

I like the flowers better.

While there isn't a lot of litter around here, we do find curious things along the roads and paths from time to time. Mostly we see used shotgun shells. There is also a busted clay pigeon or two. Crumpled tissues, crushed cigarette packs, and empty beer cans show up periodically, although none in great quantity. A few times, someone used the woods as a dump for broken floor tiles, old appliances, and miscellaneous pieces of household trash (these were quickly cleaned up by the town). I remember wondering why someone would pack that stuff up and dump it in the woods when there are free dumping facilities within a few kilometers. A while back we discovered the rusted out shell of an abandoned car in the woods, all overgrown with vines and weeds. After a couple of years, it disappeared, but we have no idea who took it away. I once saw a couple of used condoms on the ground at the end of the dirt road that runs through the vineyard. Yuck. I used a stick to move them into a ditch and covered them with leaves so the dog would not get curious.

3 comments:

  1. My nephew bent to pick up a shell on a beach in Málaga after last week's storm. Next to it was a condom. He decided to just walk on. I have a sea glass collection. I suggested he start a sea condom collection.

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  2. I quite dislike littering. I am one of those who more often than not picks things up. I sense there are all sorts of reasons why I shouldn't (starting with enabling) but there it is.

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  3. Walt,
    I too dislike road litter. We have quite a bit of it here in the otherwise beautiful coastal plain of eastern Delaware. A few road especially get hit heavy. I don't understand the thinking of those who thoughtlessly toss out their litter by the roadside. There is a dead end road that goes by our development here to the wetlands. Bill and I like to occasionally take a ride to the Broadkill River at the end of that road (Oyster Rocks Road). The wetlands are so majestic and mysterious and then you see an abandoned six pack of beer cans. Seeing that thoughtlessness makes me so angry. I used to clean up that road but it got to be too much.
    Ron

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