On Fri, 18 Jan 2019 13:20:37 +0000, Steve Walker
wrote:

On 18/01/2019 09:34, T i m wrote:

Snipped

I wonder how many here clear litter from the street near our homes
(between any Council cleaners)? A few of us round here do, 1) because
it looks untidy and 2) if you don't it seems to invite others to add
to it? ;-(

Cheers, T i m

That has always been the way. Keeping an area clean is much less effort
than cleaning it up once in a while.

Good to hear. Shame it's still not the case country-wide. ;-(

Councils don't seem to understand that though. We used to have a street
sweeper with a little yellow cart, but the council in its wisdom got rid
of him and now use a small, roadgoing vehicle.

We still have both. The sweeper vehicle is pretty useless these days
as most of the gutters are filled with cars, even during the day.

The reult is that the
area is not kept as clean (we do have a residents litter picking session
every so often), which encourages more litter.

Yup. ;-(

The rotating brushes are
also very good at throwing much of what is there into the hedges and
bushes rather than collecting it.

Doh! ;-(

Another by product of getting rid of the street sweeper is that he'll
have lost his job and will probably be on benefits for life - he is deaf
and dumb, so little chance of finding something else.

Might he mot have been transferred to a different role within the
council, like one of the grass maintenance teams?

Working out and
about at least got him an income, a chance to feel he was doing
something useful and a little interaction with people. He always had a
smile for everyone.

That IS a terrible shame. And if he was doing a good job, I wonder if
'the people' could afford to keep him on between them (like you see
some areas hiring their own 'security' patrols)? There may even be
some social support / grant for that out there?

Cheers, T i m