Rats

There's a saying that you're never more than (insert number) feet from a rat but I'm beginning to think that you're closer to one on the car park between Nottingham Road and Stanton Road than anywhere else in Ilkeston. About lunchtime today I spotted what looked like a young rat there and only a few weeks ago there was one much larger on the footpath as we approached. And that wasn't the first I'd seen there. We've even reported them to the council but it seems as though there's a colony taken up residence in the undergrowth around the car park and they refuse to be evicted. It's hardly surprising though when irresponsible people drop half finished cartons of take-away food in the car park. I tried to take a photo of the one I saw today but once the rat saw me, it scurried off from its half eaten Saturday lunch into the cover of the surrounding vegetation so this blurred image is the best I could get.

Joined Up Thinking

The council provides households with free black bins for rubbish and brown bins for garden waste. They also supply green bags for recycling materials free of charge and will replace any that are lost or no longer usable again free of charge. Blue bins are also available for recycling material but these have to be purchased from the council at a cost of some £25 or £26 each. The council are also targeted with achieving a set amount of recycling so I believe that if they want us to recycle they should provide the means for us to do so and not charge us for the privilege. Look at it this way - the council has to keep paying for replacement green bags, they also have to pay for street cleaners. On windy days like today the green bags blow all over the place and deposit litter and rubbish like these plastic bottles seen today which increases the workload of the street cleaners. If all households were given a free blue bin, it would save the cost of replacement green bags, reduce the amount of street cleaning, make it easier for the refuse collectors thus making them more efficient and allow more time to devote to other areas of the Pride In Erewash initiative. All it needs is a little joined up thinking - it's not difficult and in the current economic climate, you know it makes sense!.

GOM Syndrome

The grumpy old man syndrome hit again today and with some justification. I just don't understand how the smokers who sit on the seats on the Market Place think it is OK to drop their nub ends on the floor when the is a litter bin just a few steps away. In fact around the fountain there are at least four bins but the area is covered with their discarded ciggies. I wonder if they realise that if they are caught dropping their litter, they are liable to a £30 fixed penalty!

'Touch Me Feel Me'

I don't know what it refers to but someone had discarded a sign - that's polite speak for dropped some litter - which read "Touch Me Feel Me" at the side of a footpath near the town centre. Fortunately the plants it was resting against were not nettles but I didn't risk touching them anyway!

I still don't understand though why they cannot dispose of their rubbish in a more considerate way.

Memorial Garden

Our daily walk today took us through the old section of St Mary's churchyard that is separated from the church by Chalons Way. When the new road was constructed special arrangements had to be made for the tombstones and remains of the bodies that lay under the route. There have not been any burials here for many a year and although it is still a peaceful location near the town centre, many of the headstones are the worse for wear, much of the area has become overgrown and it is often a litter trap. Footpaths cross the site and are well used but if any organisation ever has any money to spare, it could be landscaped and made into a fitting memorial garden for those that have gone before.

The Green Machine

The local council workers have got a new machine seen for the first time today on the Market Place and Bath Street. It was doing a good job too picking up the litter and hopefully it will be kept in good working order to keep the town centre cleaner.

It certainly beats the previous method which involved someone going round picking up individual pieces of litter with giant tweezers and depositing them in plastic bags. The machine has a registration plate which means it can go on the public roads too.This is one of the few occasions when I wasn't displeased about a vehicle in the pedestrian zone even if it was going the wrong way! When traffic IS allowed it should only travel up the hill as can be seen by the white arrow on the blue sign.

Keep Ilkeston Tidy

My wife and I are often in the Town Hall reporting places where litter needs removing. The Council has a responsibility to keep the streets clean but we realise that it is the residents of the town that create the eyesores. There are several litter bins strategically placed around the Market Place and one is visible outside the Library in this picture.


Why the youth in the white jacket in the centre of the picture chose to carefully balance his empty soft drink can on top of a bollard and then proceed past the bin is quite beyond me. Quite recently this area was packed with people applauding and cheering young men who had been fighting to preserve our freedom in Afghanistan who are about the same age as this idiot/lout/moron/imbecile/numpty (delete as appropriate or add your own word). Perhaps a few weeks with them would knock some sense into him and make him a bit more house proud. If the country is worth fighting for, then it's worth looking after and includes disposing of litter in the correct manner.

Rubbish

Whilst walking along Millership Way, one of the main roads into the town, this afternoon I was appalled by the amount of rubbish and litter that has accumulated along the verges.


Whilst councils, and I'm not sure here whether it's the local or the county authority, have a duty to clean up the mess, surely residents of the town have a duty not to let it get into this state in the first place. Whoever is responsible, the state of the road is an absolute disgrace.