Saturday 25th September 2021 - Could be the Last Time, Mindless Murder and Big Belly Bin

We have had some great weather during September, which has gone a long way towards compensating for the disappointing August. Each time Peter has lit the barbeque this month, I have been thinking of the lyrics in the Rolling Stones song, The Last Time – ‘this could be the last time, maybe the last time, I don’t know’. But with the forecast change in the weather next week, I do wonder if this evening’s barbeque will be the last this year…..but then you never know.

This is not Overstrand related but given the current circumstances, I feel justified in mentioning this. The media are as always, up for a good old stir, making matters far worse than they need be. Recently they started reporting empty supermarket shelves and rumours of shortages at Christmas. This was followed by scares of meat shortages due to the reduced deliveries of CO2, which is used to stun livestock prior to slaughter as well as being used in packaging to prolong shelf life. Next came stories of petrol stations being closed because they had sold out of petrol and diesel. All of these are the result of the shortage of HGV delivery drivers. There is no shortage of the various commodities themselves. If the media had just kept their noses out of it, there would be none of the resulting panic buying. The media would do better to concentrate on atrocities like the one in local wildlife expert, Carl Chapman’s blog, Letter from Norfolk. In his blog, dated 15th September, he gives a graphic account of the mindless murder of 1428 Atlantic White-Sided Dolphins by some of the residents of the Faroe Islands. Such a totally brutal and vile act will be beyond the comprehension of decent folk. This needs to be stopped and what better way than for the media to stir things up…..but will they? I doubt it.

Coming back to Overstrand, the village has a big belly bin. It’s quite flashy for a bin; with a foot control, as well as pull down handle, a separate section for cigarette stubs and panels for posters. Solar powered, it compresses rubbish when it gets to a certain level enabling it to contain more rubbish than the standard bins. We were told the big belly bins cost £6,000 which is quite a hefty sum but if it avoids having the piles of rubbish we see stacked at the base of the other bins during peak season, where it attracts rats and the like, then it has to be a sound investment on behalf of NNDC. Today’s photo is of the bin, located at the top of the zigzag path. We have used it each day to deposit the litter we pick on our morning walks.