Willow, Vinters Valley Nature Reserve

Yesterday’s journal entry certainly touched a raw nerve, there is despair both about litter in general and fly tipping in particular and about traffic noise.

We’re full of admiration for volunteers who organise or are part of litter picking activities. We do our bit, or did pre-covid and need to get back to it. Maurice1948 is part of the Keep Oban Tidy group and Tweedy and Kiteseeker both reported about initiatives in their areas.

There’s clearly a great deal of disgust about the situation and some resignation, but what to do? Individual and small group actions do work but multi-channel approach is needed whereby our government and local authorities lead, direct, impose, punish, facilitate, encourage and empower the nation to take control. This issue matters to so many people and it needs to matter to those who are in a position to make a difference.

In my GCE English in 1970 (!) I remember one line of a poem that was used as a starter for a question: “... along the shoreline lisps (I think that was the word) an epitaph to potato crisps...” There’s much more than ancient bags of crisps on our shores and along our main trunk roads.

Onto lighter matters... if you’re still here. What was left of the morning was spent making leek and potato soup and cooking lunch while Susan was printing and finishing her Easter cards. Doreen struggled down for lunch after which we went for a walk and on the way, thankfully, saw this impressive willow beginning to burst into leaf.