Clutter on our pavements

[47er]

I must admit I had never considered how difficult it must be for people who are visually impaired  to do a simple thing like walking down a street.

When you think back the clutter on our streets has grown exponentially.

Even having a guide dog is no help if you're forced off the pavement and your dog is hit by a car.

https://www.theguardian.com/world/2024/jan/11/britains-pavement-hell-how-messy-broken-streets-ruin-peoples-lives

[Tyrone Shoelaces]

9 hours ago, 47er said:

I must admit I had never considered how difficult it must be for people who are visually impaired  to do a simple thing like walking down a street.

When you think back the clutter on our streets has grown exponentially.

Even having a guide dog is no help if you're forced off the pavement and your dog is hit by a car.

https://www.theguardian.com/world/2024/jan/11/britains-pavement-hell-how-messy-broken-streets-ruin-peoples-lives

Definitely. I go litter picking on the commons near me twice a week and I could go every day to be honest. Lots of energy drink cans, they mustn’t work because the owner can’t carry them as far as the nearest bin. Throwaway vapes and the wrapping are everywhere. Having said that the commons are nowhere near as bad as the streets between where I live and the centre of town. They are a disgrace.

I’m out in rural Spain at the moment and the difference is amazing. There’s hardly any litter but that could be because you see the street sweepers everyday. I believe they are on a form of “ work fare “ and the do it for 6 months at a time as a condition of getting benefits.

[Upside Down]

Isn't shit all over the streets a sign of a failed state?

[Gav]

On 11/01/2024 at 23:21, 47er said:

I must admit I had never considered how difficult it must be for people who are visually impaired  to do a simple thing like walking down a street.

When you think back the clutter on our streets has grown exponentially.

Even having a guide dog is no help if you're forced off the pavement and your dog is hit by a car.

https://www.theguardian.com/world/2024/jan/11/britains-pavement-hell-how-messy-broken-streets-ruin-peoples-lives

I was driving through the Dearne Valley between Barnsley and Doncaster earlier today and saw 3/4 large gangs of people litter picking on the duel carriageways. This area was mining communities in years gone by and has been replaced by carriageways, roundabouts, industrial estates and outlet shops.

Litter can only come from people travelling in cars......

Credit to these pickers, young and old in the freezing conditions, thankfully we still have some selfless people in this world. 

[Norbert Rassragr]

Same in a lot of Coventry. Fag ends, energy drink cans and nitrous oxide canisters all over the pavement in many areas. Sunflower seed shells too.

[Tyrone Shoelaces]

22 hours ago, Norbert Rassragr said:

Same in a lot of Coventry. Fag ends, energy drink cans and nitrous oxide canisters all over the pavement in many areas. Sunflower seed shells too.

The big blue nitrous oxide canisters were very popular, especially at week ends. Since they’ve been banned I haven’t seen as many.

[Norbert Rassragr]

It is/was the little silver cans that were all over the ground here. Loads of them, as if Raheem Sterling had a massive party in Foleshill Road. The only really clean area is Earlsdon but that's the really middle class area of Coventry.

[Tyrone Shoelaces]

3 minutes ago, Norbert Rassragr said:

It is/was the little silver cans that were all over the ground here. Loads of them, as if Raheem Sterling had a massive party in Foleshill Road. The only really clean area is Earlsdon but that's the really middle class area of Coventry.

Those went out of fashion up here over a year ago. All I’ve seen recently are the big blue canisters, as big as a fire extinguisher ! One one weekend I picked up a dozen of them !.

Edited January 19, 2024 by Tyrone Shoelaces

[jim mk2]

On 12/01/2024 at 09:12, Tyrone Shoelaces said:

Definitely. I go litter picking on the commons near me twice a week and I could go every day to be honest. Lots of energy drink cans, they mustn’t work because the owner can’t carry them as far as the nearest bin. Throwaway vapes and the wrapping are everywhere. Having said that the commons are nowhere near as bad as the streets between where I live and the centre of town. They are a disgrace.

I’m out in rural Spain at the moment and the difference is amazing. There’s hardly any litter but that could be because you see the street sweepers everyday. I believe they are on a form of “ work fare “ and the do it for 6 months at a time as a condition of getting benefits.

The whole country is a disgrace - everywhere you travel there is litter. The casual littering from motorists is probably worse than the fly-tipping with the roadsides inundated with filth

I travelled on 100 miles of autobahn in Austria and Germany recently and I counted fewer than 10 pieces of litter in the whole journey. France isn't quite as good but still way better than here (Paris excepted). Heavens knows what they think when they come over here. 

[Ianrally]

Take a look at the Memories of Blackburn video on the Nostalgia thread. The streets of Blackburn are spotless in those pictures from the 50's and 60's. I wonder what the main difference is to today??

[jim mk2]

People took more pride back then. There were always those who made a mess of the environment but not as many as now. The main difference is the litter is rarely cleaned up -the same litter has been hanging around our local roads for years. Council cutbacks partly to blame but what is the Highways Agency - which is paid more than £150m a year to keep the roadsides clean - doing? 

[Ianrally]

2 hours ago, jim mk2 said:

People took more pride back then. There were always those who made a mess of the environment but not as many as now. The main difference is the litter is rarely cleaned up -the same litter has been hanging around our local roads for years. Council cutbacks partly to blame but what is the Highways Agency - which is paid more than £150m a year to keep the roadsides clean - doing? 

And supposedly to fix potholes which also doesn’t happen. We are now like a third world country. 

[Upside Down]

22 minutes ago, Ianrally said:

And supposedly to fix potholes which also doesn’t happen. We are now like a third world country. 

Like?

[Ianrally]

6 minutes ago, Upside Down said:

Like?

I was being too generous.