Fly-tipping is described as: “The illegal deposit of any waste onto land, i.e. waste dumped or tipped on a site with no license to accept waste.” It can be hazardous to the public and animals and it costs you as a taxpayer to clear it up.
The cost to landowners and the taxpayer of fly-tipping is in the region of £150 million per annum. Both Local Authorities and the Environment Agency are responsible for tackling fly-tipping.
Reports of fly-tipping incidents should be made to your local authority (telephone number in the phone directory) or to the Environment Agency on their 24-hour hotline number: 0800 807060
I understand why the rogue tradesman might dump rubbish in private and public places: to avoid paying a fee at the local landfill or waste reclamation site. What I don’t understand is why a person living in a house that backs onto a forest, will dump their garden rubbish over their back fence. I know that everyone living next to a forest, right of way, or common ground does not do this, but there are those who do. I have seen it many times, as I roam around the countryside; even when the local waste reclamation site is just around the corner.
People who dump their garden rubbish over their back fence probably feel that it will eventually rot down and disappear. What they don’t seem to understand is that many people regard garden waste deposited on public and private land as an eyesore. The fact that the land they are dumping on is owned by someone else doesn’t seem to bother them, nor deter them. It would be a different matter, though, if the land owner started dumping rubbish in a private person’s garden; they would soon kick-up a fuss about that. The normal detritus of modern living spread liberally around our open spaces is bad enough, without the additional burden of huge amounts of tree and bush trimmings blocking the paths during the summer months. What gets me is that some people dump their rubbish, openly, in broad daylight, as if this gives fly tipping some level of social acceptability, as if to say: “At least I am dumping my rubbish in this wood in broad daylight; I can’t be accused of skulking around in the middle of the night doing it.”
Laziness, expense, or lack of time – the latter reason sometimes being used in an attempt to disguise plain laziness - are often the reasons for fly tipping, whether they be commercial or residential culprits.
Fly-tippers must have a mind set in which “out of sight is out of mind” is predominant. The problem is that their dumped rubbish doesn’t go away, unless someone else removes it. I wonder if such people have the same attitude to their finances, or to paying their parking fines?
Sunday, 28 October 2007
Why do able bodied drivers park in disabled car parking spaces?
I am well aware of the reasons people give: “The car park was full and no disabled people were using the spaces at the time.” Surely the whole point is that disabled car parking spaces are marked out specifically for disabled drivers to use. This is, obviously, especially important when a car park is full. Another reason given is: “There were two disabled car parking spaces free, so I thought it would be alright to park in one of them.”
I have never parked in a disabled car parking place and there are many other people who have enough of a social conscience not to park in them, either. So what’s the motivation here? Is it seeing other people breaking a rule or regulation that make it acceptable for another person to break them also? What a chaotic life we would have to lead if everyone felt this way.
I see these errant parkers around my local shops. Last Saturday evening the car park was full, apart from two disabled places at the far end, nearest the shops. Many people had parked in the adjoining street, rather than in a disabled person’s parking place. Within seconds of my parking , a young woman in a small, nippy, car races past all the vehicles parked in the street and weaves her way through the car park - right into a disabled parking space! She must have been aware that the two spaces were likely to be empty and she had no scruples about using one herself. What is going on in these people’s heads?
I have heard people who, when asked why they have parked in a disabled car park, give reasons like: “There are plenty of other spaces free. Why can’t disabled people use them?”
Some people seem incapable of registering the fact that disabled people are often not capable of moving as far, or as fast under their own steam, as those of us who are able bodied. It may be, also, that some people just don’t think about the needs of the disabled - or anyone else for that matter, beyond their close family and friends. Why should they? They have their own busy, self centred, lives to lead. And, after all, it’s not their fault that some people have a disability.
I have never parked in a disabled car parking place and there are many other people who have enough of a social conscience not to park in them, either. So what’s the motivation here? Is it seeing other people breaking a rule or regulation that make it acceptable for another person to break them also? What a chaotic life we would have to lead if everyone felt this way.
I see these errant parkers around my local shops. Last Saturday evening the car park was full, apart from two disabled places at the far end, nearest the shops. Many people had parked in the adjoining street, rather than in a disabled person’s parking place. Within seconds of my parking , a young woman in a small, nippy, car races past all the vehicles parked in the street and weaves her way through the car park - right into a disabled parking space! She must have been aware that the two spaces were likely to be empty and she had no scruples about using one herself. What is going on in these people’s heads?
I have heard people who, when asked why they have parked in a disabled car park, give reasons like: “There are plenty of other spaces free. Why can’t disabled people use them?”
Some people seem incapable of registering the fact that disabled people are often not capable of moving as far, or as fast under their own steam, as those of us who are able bodied. It may be, also, that some people just don’t think about the needs of the disabled - or anyone else for that matter, beyond their close family and friends. Why should they? They have their own busy, self centred, lives to lead. And, after all, it’s not their fault that some people have a disability.
Saturday, 20 October 2007
The Mill House Hotel, Kingham, Oxfordshire.
Kingham is a pretty, quiet, sleepy sort of village in which nothing much seem to happen during a weekend, it's probably the same during the week, too, and for me this is the attraction. If you like to have bolt holes to dive into when normal life gets a bit top heavy, somewhere to unwind and forget your woes for a bit, then the Mill at Kingham might be a good candidate and a first choice port of call. A two day weekend break in a standard double room will cost around £280.00, including breakfast and evening meal. They only have one draught beer, and that's Hook Norton - I like drinking it.
I am writing this blog in Room 1. The door leading the the staff quarters is next to our door and, to be honest, I would like it to be somewhere else. Room 1 is classed as a "standard" room. I think pets are allowed in the hotel, at the discretion of the management, but it wouldn't have been a good idea to bring one of our moggies with us: there is not enough space in our room to swing it properly. I am probably being a little unfair here, as I really am enjoying my self. I'm just letting my feelings flow.
Room 1 has all you could reasonably expect: a television, dresser with mirror, a stool and a chair, a small en-suite (with bath), tea making facilities, a short wardrobe to hang your clothes, twin beds pushed together, bedside cabinets at each side and an alarm radio. The central heating radiator doesn't work, but there are sufficient hot water pipes running under the floorboards to take the chill out of the air. There is also a 20 mm a cold water pipe positioned 150 mm off the ceiling and running the full length of the room; I mention this, not because it's a problem, but because it's there. I suppose it adds to the character of the room; just like the real oak beam that runs in the other direction.
The view from our window is idyllic. We look out onto what can be described as a mowed meadow. A trout stream flows through the middle of this vast green expanse, and numerous fully grown weeping willows border its banks. There are many mature and very attractive plants, bushes and shrubs to look at as well. The gardens are really very well maintained and it all adds to the general ambiance.
I suppose it says a lot, having stayed in most of the rooms, that I am not unhappy staying in the smallest and cheapest of them.
On this occasion we arrived here on 19th October, at around 7 pm. The whole outside of the hotel is soaked in that orange floodlit glow that seems to be the norm these days. I suppose it's intended to promote a welcoming glow and a feeling of warmth in the heart of a weary traveller - it seems to work, too; particularly on a dark cold Friday evening in October.
We ate a very pleasant dinner with a nice fruity Chenin Blanc, my wife's favourite. We have used this hotel for many years and have experienced the inevitable changes; the changes never seem to be for the good, in retrospect. The food portions seem to get smaller, little economies reduce the attractiveness of the aperitifs; I suppose it's a "sign of the times ", as they say.
Next morning, at breakfast, my wife complained that the bed was not very comfortable and that she wasn't able sleep all night: the reason she didn't sleep well was more likely due to my finger prodding her throughout the night in a vain attempt to stop her snoring - lets hope she doesn't read this, eh!.
I am writing this blog in Room 1. The door leading the the staff quarters is next to our door and, to be honest, I would like it to be somewhere else. Room 1 is classed as a "standard" room. I think pets are allowed in the hotel, at the discretion of the management, but it wouldn't have been a good idea to bring one of our moggies with us: there is not enough space in our room to swing it properly. I am probably being a little unfair here, as I really am enjoying my self. I'm just letting my feelings flow.
Room 1 has all you could reasonably expect: a television, dresser with mirror, a stool and a chair, a small en-suite (with bath), tea making facilities, a short wardrobe to hang your clothes, twin beds pushed together, bedside cabinets at each side and an alarm radio. The central heating radiator doesn't work, but there are sufficient hot water pipes running under the floorboards to take the chill out of the air. There is also a 20 mm a cold water pipe positioned 150 mm off the ceiling and running the full length of the room; I mention this, not because it's a problem, but because it's there. I suppose it adds to the character of the room; just like the real oak beam that runs in the other direction.
The view from our window is idyllic. We look out onto what can be described as a mowed meadow. A trout stream flows through the middle of this vast green expanse, and numerous fully grown weeping willows border its banks. There are many mature and very attractive plants, bushes and shrubs to look at as well. The gardens are really very well maintained and it all adds to the general ambiance.
I suppose it says a lot, having stayed in most of the rooms, that I am not unhappy staying in the smallest and cheapest of them.
On this occasion we arrived here on 19th October, at around 7 pm. The whole outside of the hotel is soaked in that orange floodlit glow that seems to be the norm these days. I suppose it's intended to promote a welcoming glow and a feeling of warmth in the heart of a weary traveller - it seems to work, too; particularly on a dark cold Friday evening in October.
We ate a very pleasant dinner with a nice fruity Chenin Blanc, my wife's favourite. We have used this hotel for many years and have experienced the inevitable changes; the changes never seem to be for the good, in retrospect. The food portions seem to get smaller, little economies reduce the attractiveness of the aperitifs; I suppose it's a "sign of the times ", as they say.
Next morning, at breakfast, my wife complained that the bed was not very comfortable and that she wasn't able sleep all night: the reason she didn't sleep well was more likely due to my finger prodding her throughout the night in a vain attempt to stop her snoring - lets hope she doesn't read this, eh!.
After breakfast we decided to drive to Stow. Just as we were setting off I noticed a low tyre pressure warning light lit up on the dashboard. Assuming it was due to the cold weather lowering the tyre pressure a little, I drove off. The car soon began making strange noises and the handling was not what it should be: I assumed, with a heavy heart and a little irritation, a puncture. I remembered seeing a tyre fitting business in Chipping Norton, so I slowly made our way there to get the puncture sorted. It turned out that the tyre warning light was due only to slight under inflation pressure. The noise and poor handling, on the other hand, was due to my forgetting to release the handbrake properly: my lame excuse was that it was my wife's car and I'm not used to driving it.
The restaurant is very adequate, comfortable and personal. The tables are not too close together, the service is good and the staff try to please. The table d' hote and the a la carte menus are adequate, too; it's nouvelle cuisine, but I have always left the restaurant satisfied. I'm not a food freak, but I do like good wholesome grub and reasonably attentive service.
Unfortunately, the loo blocked towards the end of our stay; I hope we were not to blame, but just to be sure, when I am booking a room at this hotel again, I will ask not to be assigned to Room 1
On the whole, I don't have any serious criticism. I think we will be back here again when our brains and bodies need a short rest.
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