The Great Brookhaven Cleanup--today!

There are several hours to go. Put your boots on, grab some bags, don't forget your gloves--and GET OUT THERE AND DO YOUR BIT! Every little helps. You look after your small corner of the world, and it becomes a better world for everyone.

(Taking a coffee break. We--neighbours and I, each taking various patches (and yet another example of Flavio's "organic organization", with no-one giving orders, it's just obvious who does what), we've tidied the south part of Park Drive, around no. 1 beach, and the streets in this segment. Still more to do.)

Amazing what you find.

A beer-bottle stash (all empty of beer but some containing swamp water and algae in various stages of growth), must have been either a major party dumping-ground or someone's place to hide the evidence of their intake from the spouse. (Cool idea: nip into the undergrowth, drink a beer, leave the glass bottle behind and No One Will Know I've had a beer.)

To whoever left the glass bottles (single or in a heap): when a deer appears in the middle of the road when you turn the corner and won't get out of the way and you end up with your nice shiny car all smashed up and sunk into one of the mosquito ditches, understand that it was the deer's revenge for the cut foot he suffered from your broken bottles. You're lucky he doesn't bring the herd to poop on your doorstep. Every night.

I have discovered this morning that there are more brands of condoms than I knew existed.

People: the wrappers that you put into the open-lidded bin by number one beach blow out and away into the undergrowth and onto the beach, because that's what wind does with light little things like condom wrappers. As for their used contents, I heard a rumour that they are setting up DNA testing as part of a new anti-litter program. You may want to change your disposal habits.

And for those of you who think number one beach is a nice, private place to have a bit of nooky away from the prying eyes of Mom/Dad/his or her spouse/your spouse/girlfriend/boyfriend, you might want to read the posting on this blog from September 3rd last year, before one of the neighbourhood dogs or raccoons bites you on the behind. Hard.

Mother!! Fathers!!! Those "disposable" diapers? "Disposable" doesn't mean "dispose anywhere", it just means throw them away in the garbage and don't wash/dry/use again and again. "Disposable" doesn't mean "biodegradable". Haven't you noticed? They have plastic all over them. To keep the pee in. That's why you put them on your kiddies. And that's why, when you toss them all nicely packaged out of the car window into the reeds, they remain little swollen packages that fester in the undergrowth. Yummy.

Beer cans. Soda/pop cans. They look cool when the weather and sand has shined off all the paint. They look even better in a recycling bin ready to be made into something more useful instead.

Did you know that cigarette butts take 51 years to disintegrate? Birds mistake them for food, or they get blown into the water (rather easy round here) and end up in the stomachs of fish and even whales. If your own cancer doesn't worry you, maybe a dead whale in your backyard will. They tend to be a little smelly and quite difficult to move.

OK enough of the rant. Cleaning up our town, and keeping it clean, isn't a one-day thing. We need to look after it every day. So you didn't drop that bit of litter blowing down the street? Not important. You can still pick it up. Maybe your neighbour is doing the same for the Dunkin' Donuts Styrofoam Cup that blew down the street from your house when the raccoons ripped open your garbage bag last week.

Every little helps.

Just take it home, or seal it up and put it in one of the garbage bins. There's a whole set of them beside the marina.

Thank you :-)