Pacman

[UncleEbenezer]

Went up to local shops this morning.

My route takes me through a local park. Normally pleasant enough, though nothing special. Wearing sandals suitable for the path, but not really for going off-path in muddy conditions.

Two parallel paths, about 20 metres apart, lead from the road into the park. Well, they're two sides of a rectangle. As I enter the nearer path, a great big sweeping machine rounds the corner, coming straight towards me. Aaargh! Even if there's room to pass, there'll be a great cloud of diesel in its wake. So I turn back, and head towards the other path.

Whereupon two more of the same sweepers appear from around the same corner as the first. Both heading for the second path. These things hunt in packs! There seems to be yet another in the distance, on the path they've come from (a stretch of which is in my line of sight). So that's decided: once the path is clear, I'll head for the alternative path across the park. A path too steep and narrow for those contraptions. Occasionally blighted by kids on motorbikes, though not at that kind of hour.

However, it turns out there's no escape. One of the sweepers turns directly towards me, still on the short side of the rectangle. With them coming from all directions, I had no option but to squeeze past and head rapidly for the narrow path!

Coming back from the shop, I avoided the park and went the alternative way instead. First section of that is across a big cemetary, and that too was blighted by vast numbers of cars. I guess something must've been happening: a celebrity death?

[Rhyd6]

.come and live in the country, our lives are never blighted by any machine that sweeps anything. Mind you we have to hop niftily out of the way of rampaging cyclists who always seem to hunt in pairs or packs, young lads on quad bikes, older lads in tractors and the odd horse and trap but other than that it' it quiet, almost like a graveyard except that we haven't got one of those either.

R6

[UncleEbenezer]

.come and live in the country, our lives are never blighted by any machine that sweeps anything. Mind you we have to hop niftily out of the way of rampaging cyclists who always seem to hunt in pairs or packs, young lads on quad bikes, older lads in tractors and the odd horse and trap but other than that it' it quiet, almost like a graveyard except that we haven't got one of those either.

R6

Ah, yes. Memories of the great piles of horse dung on the doorsteps. At least I can still easily step around them, unlike my ninetysomething neighbour who walked only slowly and with difficulty on two sticks.

[Itsallaguess]

At least I can still easily step around them, unlike my ninety-something neighbour who walked only slowly and with difficulty on two sticks.

To be fair, I think the sweeper-operators are duty-bound to avoid sweeping up members of the public, however much of an obstacle they are to your progress, so I think you're just going to have to put up with a slight delay in these particular situations.....

Itsallaguess*




* :o)

[redsturgeon]

At least I can still easily step around them, unlike my ninety-something neighbour who walked only slowly and with difficulty on two sticks.

To be fair, I think the sweeper-operators are duty-bound to avoid sweeping up members of the public, however much of an obstacle they are to your progress, so I think you're just going to have to put up with a slight delay in these particular situations.....

Itsallaguess*




* :o)

You should have looked for the cherry to eat up then they would have been scurrying away from you...

John

[JMN2]

Horse manure is perfectly natural, it is the dog sh1t which is annoying. People here might bag it up but then the neatly tied bags are left on the ground even though the dog bins are nearby, go figure that. Some dogs must be really big or have the same diet as the owner.

[sg31]

Horse manure is perfectly natural, it is the dog sh1t which is annoying. People here might bag it up but then the neatly tied bags are left on the ground even though the dog bins are nearby, go figure that. Some dogs must be really big or have the same diet as the owner.

If horse manure is natural and acceptable I find it strange that you appear to consider dog sh1t to be somehow un-natural. It might be unpleasant but surely it's a natural product.

(I don't have a dog)

[bungeejumper]

If horse manure is natural and acceptable I find it strange that you appear to consider dog sh1t to be somehow un-natural. It might be unpleasant but surely it's a natural product.

Try putting dog dirt in your compost bin. (On second thoughts, don't.) You'll notice the essential difference.

Left in situ, it smells worse, sticks worse, and can be full of unpleasant little nasties. Oh, the unbounded joy of hitting somebody's fragrant little poochie pile with the lawnmower. It sometimes strains my love for my fellow human beings.

As do the dog owners who walk their dogs in the churchyard across the road from us, and who let them crap on the graves, and don't clear it up. "Job done, walkies over, home boy." Happens every single day. Grrrr.

Responsible dog owners are, of course, excepted from all this. But it's not those people we're discussing here, is it?

BJ

[JMN2]

Sheep, horse, cow, elephant - totally natural. Dog sh1t can be korma or liver pate (tomato leverwurst) -like ---totally ghastly!

---leberkasen!

[sg31]

If horse manure is natural and acceptable I find it strange that you appear to consider dog sh1t to be somehow un-natural. It might be unpleasant but surely it's a natural product.

Try putting dog dirt in your compost bin. (On second thoughts, don't.) You'll notice the essential difference.

Left in situ, it smells worse, sticks worse, and can be full of unpleasant little nasties. Oh, the unbounded joy of hitting somebody's fragrant little poochie pile with the lawnmower. It sometimes strains my love for my fellow human beings.

As do the dog owners who walk their dogs in the churchyard across the road from us, and who let them crap on the graves, and don't clear it up. "Job done, walkies over, home boy." Happens every single day. Grrrr.

Responsible dog owners are, of course, excepted from all this. But it's not those people we're discussing here, is it?

BJ

I'm not disputing the unpleasantness of dog dirt, I've stepped in it often enough , it was just the un-natural comment that surprised me.

I lived in Brighton for many years, residents never look up, they are too busy watching where they put their feet.

The only thing I hate more is cat sh1t, particularly when I'm gardening and put my fingers in it.

[moorfield]

.come and live in the country, our lives are never blighted by any machine that sweeps anything. Mind you we have to hop niftily out of the way of rampaging cyclists who always seem to hunt in pairs or packs, young lads on quad bikes, older lads in tractors and the odd horse and trap but other than that it' it quiet, almost like a graveyard except that we haven't got one of those either.

R6

It's flipping noisy in our part of the country!

Constantly working agricultural machinery in the middle/far distance, parliaments of noisy owls, occasional barking foxes etc.

And it stinks (seriously gut wrenchingly so) when the muck spreading occurs on the local fields.

Wouldn't have it any other way though since moving out of That London ...

[Rhyd6]

Peace and quiet were in abundance last night as walked home from the pub in the snow. There was a beautiful moon and the sky looked as though someone had decorated it ready for christmas. The snow crunched underneath our boots and other than the occasional owl there wasn't a sound to be heard - bliss.

R6

[quelquod]

I expect there're a few more owls than usual given the slippery conditions. (None of either around here though).

[bungeejumper]

Okay, I was wrong. Apparently.

Try putting dog dirt in your compost bin [I said.]. (On second thoughts, don't.)

I have now been apprised of the fact that you can put dogsh1t into an ordinary wormery. You live and learn.

But here's the kicker. It needs to be a separate wormery. Although the wormery and the worms are absolutely the standard-issue varieties, you have to make sure that the worms are never allowed to eat anything else. Because if they ever get wind of the fact that there's a better set of menu options out there somewhere, they'll go on strike and you'll be finished.

It must be hell in there. And the really good thing is, I now know why Donald Trump makes me want to believe in reincarnation.

BJ