Day sixteen's blog comes to you with one arm around Tabitha who is licking my arm (think she is teething and not just developed a taste for arms!) So if there are more spelling mistakes than usual let's blame her eh? My rant today comes after a very nice picnic lunch in Queenswood. Having decided to take the kids and a picnic we traipsed our usual 12 bags of crap (kids stuff) to the car and set off. After arriving we had a very nice (thanks Co-op - I know what you're all thinking - just how many different supermarkets does this crazy lady go to and the answer is all of them! Ha!!|) picnic lunch and then set off for our walk.
Not very far into the walk we came across someone with a dog. I have no problem with dogs (we have two) although Jake is quite scared of them after our terrier, Digby, pushed him over a couple of times, OMG am too drunk to finish this post...will explain tomorrow FR.
Ok so I might have gone out for the first time in a while last night on date night with Andy (thanks Mum and Dad for babysitting) and had one too many (only had four drinks total so you can tell how long it's been since I was a serial party animal!!). So I forgot to finish my post which was incidentally about people who take the time and bother to pick up their dog's poo in little plastic bags and then upon finding the poo bin full, tie them to trees. Yes in non-biodegradable plastic bags!! For the other woodland creatures to come across or for other walkers to admire - I'm not sure which but it's disgusting!! Actually with a hangover, it seems even worse and just the thought of it is making me nauseous!!
Why go to the bother of picking it up if you are then going to tie it to a tree?? Why not just leave it on the floor....I know it's good to pick up dog poo but if you are then going to tie it to a tree surely it's better to leave it where it can degrade rather than swing happily in the breeze for years to come?? I mean other animals poo in the woods surely and no one goes around cleaning up after them. See below for pictures of similar incidents....
See what I mean...its truly disgusting!! Why would people do it!!?? I just can't understand it. Surely if you had already bagged in and the bin was full you would just leave it by the side of the bin not tie it to a tree?? Who started it? Why did people copy? How can people think it's a good idea????
According to one website...
Irresponsible dog owners are tossing bags filled with their pets’ poo into trees and bushes.
Recently more than 50 bags of dog waste were found littering the South Road area of Morecambe and the adjacent railway track, some thrown in a tree.
Laraine Nardone, from Halton, who spotted poo bags in a tree on South Road, said: “I could see a tree with what looked like lots of blue ribbons in it.
“Later on when driving past I took a closer look and to my shock, horror and disgust, I saw that it was dog waste in plastic bags that had been thrown into the tree.
“Enviromental Health told me that they had a few complaints but they would have to catch the people responsible in the act.
“I feel sorry for the people who live opposite.”
Under current dog control orders introduced in November last year, dog owners who refuse to remove dog faeces (bagged or unbagged) from all land that public have access to could be fined £80.
Coun Karen Leytham, Cabinet member with responsibility for Environmental Health, said: “It beggars belief that someone taking the trouble to pick up their dog waste is simply refusing to finish the job and carry it a couple of yards to the nearest bin.
“Behaviour such as this is just as unacceptable as not picking up after your dog at all and just as much harm can be done to the environment by the plastic bags themselves – especially to our wildlife.
Clearly other people feel the same way as me.....it seems ridiculous to bother bagging it if you are then going to leave it in a tree!!! One website has even run a poll about this.....
| View Poll Results: Do you hang your dog's poop bag in a tree?! Huh? Do you?! If so, own up. | |||
| I am a dog owner and I have done this – I think it looks pretty |    | 1 | 3.23% |
| I am a dog owner and I have done this – I am just lazy |    | 0 | 0% |
| I am a dog owner and I dispose of poop bags in proper bins |    | 4 | 12.90% |
| I am a dog owner and I just leave my dog’s poop in the path hoping a small child will fall in it |    | 2 | 6.45% |
| I do not own a dog but I think poop bags in trees look pretty |    | 8 | 25.81% |
| I do not own a dog and think people that hang their dog poop bags in trees are cretins |    | 16 | 51.61% |
Some people apparently have been doing this to stop people leaving the bags on the floor (where people can tread on them) or in hedgerows......
A tree has been decorated with plastic bags filled with dog waste, in a bid to highlight the problem of owners leaving non-biodegradable bags in hedgerows.
British Waterways and Upper Calder Valley Renaissance group dressed a tree by the Rochdale Canal on the Lancashire and West Yorkshire border.
The bags are often discarded in the countryside, British Waterways said.
Owners are collecting their pet's faeces but not following the Countryside code and taking them away.
Robin Evans, chief executive of British Waterways, said: "It is great that people are picking up after their pet, but why put something that is biodegradable into a bag that isn't and then chuck it into the nearest hedge.
"It just doesn't make sense. Our message is simple, if you're a dog owner visiting a canal or the countryside in general, clear up after your pet and then dispose of the bag properly."
Louise Harrison, project co-ordinator for Upper Calder Valley Renaissance, added: "Hopefully the shocking sight of a beautiful tree entirely decorated with bags of poo will remind pet owners just how silly it is to discard of their dog's mess in this way."
And it's not even as if it's good for fertilizer either....
Contrary to popular belief, dog poop is not good for your lawn. The idea that dog feces act as a natural fertilizer is a commonly held misconception stemming from the use of cattle manure as a lawn fertilizer. Dog waste (feces and urine) actually are very harmful to your lawn, especially in concentrated amounts.
This is an increasing problem according to the organisation Keep Britain Tidy....
There’s no such thing as the Dog Poo Fairy
Keep Britain Tidy’s research shows that dog fouling is a major concern to members of the public. There also appears to be a bigger problem that has arisen in that increasing amounts of bagged dog faeces are being left behind as people fail to dispose of their bags after cleaning up after their pets. Research has also found that 70% of local authorities have some sort of problem within their area.
To tackle this problem, Keep Britain Tidy has launched a national dog fouling campaign to encourage irresponsible dog owners to clean up after their pets.
The campaign features eye-catching creative of a ‘dog poo fairy’ and the message ‘There’s no such thing as the Dog Poo Fairy’, and is displayed on bus stops, billboards and phone boxes across England.
So all in all I think we can agree that it's a stupid idea to bother to bag up poo only to then tie it in trees, it's not helpful, not safe (for other creatures or God forbid a bag should burst or fall on someone!) and above all else it's really, really gross!! Who wants to have to explain to their two year old what that is hanging in the trees and why they should not do it too!! I for one am all for cleaning up after your dog but unlike some people if the bin is full I take it home and dispose of it!! For goodness sake nobody wants a nice day out ruined by a tree dangling with bags of shit!!! On that note, I may have to go and lie down. That's enough ranting for someone with a hangover. On the upside I did manage to ride the Hereford bull statue last night though.....one leg up from a willing husband and a lot of giggling later and I was up and away!! #bestnightoutever. FR.
Day Eighteen;
Today I am hot and sticky and not in a good way so let's have a little rant about that shall we? See I don't like the heat..there I said it...I know I'm weird!! I know everybody else is out rejoicing in the sun and lying in parks but I just don't like being hot. (The picture below is of some horses enjoying the hot weather in Brynmawr)
It has a lot to do with the fact that I am so pale I make Casper the ghost look like he is an extra from Geordie Shore and that I once got burnt, at Barry Island, when it was cloudy and I was only outside for 20 minutes...I kid you not! If you have suffered sunburn like I've suffered sunburn (ie repeatedly and severely) then it makes you want to curl up and die when you hear things like "oooohhh it's going to be really hot for the next two weeks, it's our summer you know" (woman in shop) or "It's 40 degrees out there, I've never known it so hot" (my mum).
So as well as being ridiculously attractive to the sun (he likes to burn me) and almost collapsing if I have to do more than walk 300 yards in this heat....what you may ask is my beef with the nice weather. Well, don't get me wrong I do like a bit of nice weather the same as everyone else. Love a bbq, always enjoy a swimming pool but would rather I did not melt into a puddle of mush as extra hot days seem to be the order of the week around here!
Well as anyone who has children will know, the sun and heat in general can be a particularly trying experience. Now I have a 2 year old (same skin tone as me - white beyond belief, could get work as a vampire baby in Hollywood) - see photo below.
Today I am hot and sticky and not in a good way so let's have a little rant about that shall we? See I don't like the heat..there I said it...I know I'm weird!! I know everybody else is out rejoicing in the sun and lying in parks but I just don't like being hot. (The picture below is of some horses enjoying the hot weather in Brynmawr)
It has a lot to do with the fact that I am so pale I make Casper the ghost look like he is an extra from Geordie Shore and that I once got burnt, at Barry Island, when it was cloudy and I was only outside for 20 minutes...I kid you not! If you have suffered sunburn like I've suffered sunburn (ie repeatedly and severely) then it makes you want to curl up and die when you hear things like "oooohhh it's going to be really hot for the next two weeks, it's our summer you know" (woman in shop) or "It's 40 degrees out there, I've never known it so hot" (my mum).
So as well as being ridiculously attractive to the sun (he likes to burn me) and almost collapsing if I have to do more than walk 300 yards in this heat....what you may ask is my beef with the nice weather. Well, don't get me wrong I do like a bit of nice weather the same as everyone else. Love a bbq, always enjoy a swimming pool but would rather I did not melt into a puddle of mush as extra hot days seem to be the order of the week around here!
Well as anyone who has children will know, the sun and heat in general can be a particularly trying experience. Now I have a 2 year old (same skin tone as me - white beyond belief, could get work as a vampire baby in Hollywood) - see photo below.
And as those of you with 2 year olds will know...they can get quite upset if they are too hot. So trying to keep him cool, deal with a fractious eight month old (who also doesn't like the heat but luckily for her she has her Dad's colouring and is slightly darker than bright white!!), keep topping up sun screen and on top of this deal with all the normal, everyday tasks such as cleaning, cooking, washing and taking children to playgroups is a trying, thankless job!
I therefore defy those of you who will say "but I love the hot weather" to deal with children and housework when it's this hot. I mean 40 degrees, WTF??? That can't be right surely? Poor old Andy Murray - I wouldn't have lasted 2 minutes running around in that heat so it's an even more impressive victory. To be fair though I would of struggled walking to the park yesterday in the heat!
It also brings with it a staggering array of bloody insects and you all know how I feel about those!! I mean it's bad enough trying not to melt (fully positioned in front of the fan which Jake helpfully turns off every 3 minutes and then can't reach the on button - ggggaaaahhhh!!) without then having to swat away a million bugs, insects, wasps, bees and other creepy crawlies. I don't want to have to fight for air space in my own front room (every time I stand up I feel like I may be put in a que for air time).
I don't want to have to slather sun screen on myself and kids every 5 minutes for fear someone will burn and I don't want to have to have every window in the house open (people don't need to know about my secret addiction to Jeremy Kyle (restarted recently after my friend Kate mentioned him - damn you Kate!!))
I mean I like it to be dry (I don't like the rain either - yes I know I'm a miserable cow ha!) but I just don't want it to be this hot! A medium warm day with a breeze and no rain would be acceptable!!
Let me know when it's over....I'm off to hide under a parasol somewhere!! FR.
Day Nineteen;
So today is too hot for me to write much I'm afraid....I have been slowly melting all day and have reached the point where only submersion in an icy bath and a million cornettos will bring me back from the edge!! My furious rant of the day is about people who have to barge past you, or your pram or your car door when you are trying to put the 'littlies' in the car.
Seriously I have not left my pram there for the good of my health...it is to put my child in (yes the one you can quite clearly see me lifting out of my car) and you pushing it off the pavement in order to squeeze yourself between my car and the hedge (when you could have walked around the other side of my car) and then sighing and glaring at me when I bother to say sorry makes me want to hit you!! Yes it does!!!
Why do people do it?? Do they feel some inane desire to make you feel bad for struggling to get out of the car quickly with two small children? Do they have some attachment to the hedge that they can only walk past your car on the left? Or are they just numptys?? Yes, I thought so.
So after struggling to get my pram back on the pavement I had another woman trying to shut my door to get past....seriously two idiots in a row, in this heat.....it's too much!!! My car quite clearly had much more room to pass by on the right hand side so I set up my double pram (same size as tank - see photo) on the left.
Mentally patting myself on the back for my forward thinking I set about getting the kids out of the car. It was then I noticed the first cretin pushing my double pram off the pavement/step in front of my car. I turned (from where I was bent trying to pick up Tabitha from out of the car) and said sorry and smiled only to be met with a sullen glare and a sigh!! Seriously....you're glaring at me for saying sorry when I didn't really have many other options anyway!!?? I mean....what.....I'm supposed to never take these two out with me? I have a lot of kid's crap to cart about and to be honest if I saw someone struggling with a double pram and change bags then I would feel sorry for them (especially in this heat....I would probably offer to help them) not glare and sigh at them like they have made your life harder by having to go another direction round a car!! Ggaaaarrrrhhhhh!!!!
The second numpty tried to shut the car door whilst I was putting Tabitha in the pram (now situated at the front of the car where the first numpty had pushed it) and so Jake started screaming as he thought we were leaving him behind!
I think the stress of getting two children under the age of two into a double pram (in normal weather let alone this heatwave) is something you can only appreciate if you have done it. It's made a million times worse when you have to worry about people pushing your pram/car doors/children in the pram (oh yes that's happened to me before too) into the road/away from you. So if I made you walk a different way round my car today then I'm sorry for the inconvenience but let me just say......if you touch my baby/pram/car again then I will bite you. Just saying. FR.
Day Twenty;
Today's blog comes to you from a slightly cooler, less sweaty place. I am sufficiently chilled to write and it helps that Andy has removed the children from the house so I can concentrate (although I have pretty much got used to sleeping through the noise of Jake 'drilling' now).
I have spent the morning shopping (which always please me) and am now the proud owner of a new pair of trousers, some strawberries and a diet coke with the name Neil on it (despite the fact they were offering to print my own name onto the bottle ha ha!!). Andy was less pleased with this mornings activity and offered up the two best quotes i have heard in a long time;
"Look at that man's face...he looks like someone's reflection in a spoon" excellent.....and
"That (M&S) was the worst experience of my life...all those confused old people stumbling around trying to avoid their own death".......guess he does not share my love for shopping then!! Ha ha!!
So I am in a good mood and only have a little niggle today. People who walk in front of you and then STOP! No warning, just stop. They are then slightly miffed when you walk into the back of them or ram your pram wheels into their ankles!
Why do people do it....they suddenly decide with no warning, in a busy street they will just stop and admire something in a window or just look around aimlessly. It's bad enough when people do it in cars but at least then you have brake lights but with people no warning at all! Its also bad for your health as this article says.....
I therefore defy those of you who will say "but I love the hot weather" to deal with children and housework when it's this hot. I mean 40 degrees, WTF??? That can't be right surely? Poor old Andy Murray - I wouldn't have lasted 2 minutes running around in that heat so it's an even more impressive victory. To be fair though I would of struggled walking to the park yesterday in the heat!
It also brings with it a staggering array of bloody insects and you all know how I feel about those!! I mean it's bad enough trying not to melt (fully positioned in front of the fan which Jake helpfully turns off every 3 minutes and then can't reach the on button - ggggaaaahhhh!!) without then having to swat away a million bugs, insects, wasps, bees and other creepy crawlies. I don't want to have to fight for air space in my own front room (every time I stand up I feel like I may be put in a que for air time).
I don't want to have to slather sun screen on myself and kids every 5 minutes for fear someone will burn and I don't want to have to have every window in the house open (people don't need to know about my secret addiction to Jeremy Kyle (restarted recently after my friend Kate mentioned him - damn you Kate!!))
I mean I like it to be dry (I don't like the rain either - yes I know I'm a miserable cow ha!) but I just don't want it to be this hot! A medium warm day with a breeze and no rain would be acceptable!!
Hereford five-day forecast
| Date | Time | Weather | Temp | Wind | Visibility | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Dir | Speed | Gust | |||||
| Mon 8 Jul | 1300 |  | 24 °C | ENE | 9 mph | Very Good | |
| 1600 | | 26 °C | NE | 10 mph | Very Good | ||
| 1900 | | 25 °C | NE | 9 mph | Very Good | ||
| 2200 |  | 22 °C | ENE | 9 mph | Very Good | ||
| Tue 9 Jul | 0100 | | 17 °C | ENE | 7 mph | Very Good | |
| 0400 | | 14 °C | NE | 5 mph | Very Good | ||
| 0700 | | 14 °C | NE | 5 mph | Very Good | ||
| 1000 | | 19 °C | NE | 6 mph | Very Good | ||
| 1300 | | 23 °C | NE | 7 mph | Very Good | ||
| 1600 | | 25 °C | NE | 8 mph | Very Good | ||
| 1900 | | 25 °C | NNE | 8 mph | Very Good | ||
| Night | | 15 °C | N | 5 mph | Very Good | ||
| Wed 10 Jul | Day |  | 24 °C | ENE | 9 mph | Very Good | |
| Night | | 11 °C | ENE | 7 mph | Very Good | ||
| Thu 11 Jul | Day | | 23 °C | NE | 7 mph | 17 mph | Very Good |
| Night | | 12 °C | E | 5 mph | Very Good | ||
| Fri 12 Jul | Day | | 26 °C | ESE | 4 mph | Very Good | |
| Night | | 15 °C | N | 4 mph | Very Good | ||
Let me know when it's over....I'm off to hide under a parasol somewhere!! FR.
Day Nineteen;
So today is too hot for me to write much I'm afraid....I have been slowly melting all day and have reached the point where only submersion in an icy bath and a million cornettos will bring me back from the edge!! My furious rant of the day is about people who have to barge past you, or your pram or your car door when you are trying to put the 'littlies' in the car.
Seriously I have not left my pram there for the good of my health...it is to put my child in (yes the one you can quite clearly see me lifting out of my car) and you pushing it off the pavement in order to squeeze yourself between my car and the hedge (when you could have walked around the other side of my car) and then sighing and glaring at me when I bother to say sorry makes me want to hit you!! Yes it does!!!
Why do people do it?? Do they feel some inane desire to make you feel bad for struggling to get out of the car quickly with two small children? Do they have some attachment to the hedge that they can only walk past your car on the left? Or are they just numptys?? Yes, I thought so.
So after struggling to get my pram back on the pavement I had another woman trying to shut my door to get past....seriously two idiots in a row, in this heat.....it's too much!!! My car quite clearly had much more room to pass by on the right hand side so I set up my double pram (same size as tank - see photo) on the left.
Mentally patting myself on the back for my forward thinking I set about getting the kids out of the car. It was then I noticed the first cretin pushing my double pram off the pavement/step in front of my car. I turned (from where I was bent trying to pick up Tabitha from out of the car) and said sorry and smiled only to be met with a sullen glare and a sigh!! Seriously....you're glaring at me for saying sorry when I didn't really have many other options anyway!!?? I mean....what.....I'm supposed to never take these two out with me? I have a lot of kid's crap to cart about and to be honest if I saw someone struggling with a double pram and change bags then I would feel sorry for them (especially in this heat....I would probably offer to help them) not glare and sigh at them like they have made your life harder by having to go another direction round a car!! Ggaaaarrrrhhhhh!!!!
The second numpty tried to shut the car door whilst I was putting Tabitha in the pram (now situated at the front of the car where the first numpty had pushed it) and so Jake started screaming as he thought we were leaving him behind!
I think the stress of getting two children under the age of two into a double pram (in normal weather let alone this heatwave) is something you can only appreciate if you have done it. It's made a million times worse when you have to worry about people pushing your pram/car doors/children in the pram (oh yes that's happened to me before too) into the road/away from you. So if I made you walk a different way round my car today then I'm sorry for the inconvenience but let me just say......if you touch my baby/pram/car again then I will bite you. Just saying. FR.
Day Twenty;
Today's blog comes to you from a slightly cooler, less sweaty place. I am sufficiently chilled to write and it helps that Andy has removed the children from the house so I can concentrate (although I have pretty much got used to sleeping through the noise of Jake 'drilling' now).
I have spent the morning shopping (which always please me) and am now the proud owner of a new pair of trousers, some strawberries and a diet coke with the name Neil on it (despite the fact they were offering to print my own name onto the bottle ha ha!!). Andy was less pleased with this mornings activity and offered up the two best quotes i have heard in a long time;
"Look at that man's face...he looks like someone's reflection in a spoon" excellent.....and
"That (M&S) was the worst experience of my life...all those confused old people stumbling around trying to avoid their own death".......guess he does not share my love for shopping then!! Ha ha!!
So I am in a good mood and only have a little niggle today. People who walk in front of you and then STOP! No warning, just stop. They are then slightly miffed when you walk into the back of them or ram your pram wheels into their ankles!
Why do people do it....they suddenly decide with no warning, in a busy street they will just stop and admire something in a window or just look around aimlessly. It's bad enough when people do it in cars but at least then you have brake lights but with people no warning at all! Its also bad for your health as this article says.....
Fall risk is greater when starting and stopping
February 23, 2013 by Leave a Comment
Drunk in charge of children & more intrested in posting on a blog? Seriously WTF? How r u allowed out in public?
ReplyDeleteYour blog is the perfect accompaniment to the tennis!! Murray, Strawberries and cream and a glass of chablis...bliss!!!!!
ReplyDeleteHerefordshire is on my list of places to visit. The Siberian Stonechat, Little Bustard and Bean Goose have all been spotted in and around Herefordshire. I would love to get a glimpse of these rarely seen birds! Thanks for reminding me!
ReplyDeletehi furious ranter. I registered on your blog just to say how cute i think yuor kids are. When I have kids I hope they look just like your well not exactly obviosly tehee!!!
ReplyDeleteLuv Jeremy kyle 2!!!! #jeremykyle4president
ReplyDeleteI know exactly what you mean RE: people acting as moving obstacles. Soooooo annoying, especially in this hot weather!!
ReplyDelete