There is no doubt in my mind that the streets everywhere are filthier today than they have ever been. Perhaps it’s looking back through rosy specs but I don't remember littered streets when I was a child. Then again that was in the days when most people took some pride in where they lived. Certainly if there was any sort of debris outside my home my father would be out sweeping it up. Not for the first time yesterday, I walked down South Ealing Road from the station towards the GWR and the pavements are just a disgrace with the amount of litter and debris, most of which is outside residential properties. The same litter and debris has been there forever it seems with none of the residents seemingly bothered by it, broken glass, cans, endless dogends etc. Maybe it’s time residents took control of their own streets and cleaned up outside their own houses.I am old enough to remember when rubbish was placed in a metal dustbin which was kept at the rear of our house. The bin men had to open our gate, walk along the side of the house, collect the bin which would have been heavy and smelly, carry it to the dustcart and empty it etc., without distributing it’s contents all over the road or pavement. That is why dustmen were on the list for a tip at Christmas. Nowadays everything has to be separated, bagged up, put in the right place and still half of it ends up all over the roads and pavements. Add that to the general level of ignorant clots that chuck their litter all over the place (half eaten kebabs/burgers/chips etc, Tyskie beer cans (can’t think who is responsible for discarding those?) ) and a population seemingly incapable of cleaning up their own patches, is it any wonder we are living knee deep in mess?I don’t particularly blame the local council for this one I think it is everyone’s problem and everyone should set some sort of an example and do a bit of cleaning up, at least outside their own front doors. High streets and shopping areas are a different problem but I don’t see what would be wrong with shopkeepers cleaning the streets outside their shops also. Apart from the hopeless refuse collectors employed by the council, this is a problem caused by the general public and I can’t imagine the cost of local councils employing sufficient people to clean every residential street as well as main thoroughfares on a daily/weekly basis.Twenty years ago I lived in California which was spotless. I think someone must have come out and washed it every night. No one thought of dropping litter, perhaps because huge fines would be levied if you were caught doing so. I once opened my car door at a set of lights to pour away some cold coffee. The driver nearly had a fit in case we were fined. I pointed out it was just coffee and would be dry in a nano second but no I was not allowed to even do that. I know that when I came back home to Brentford after a year away I couldn’t believe how filthy and depressing the place was in comparison with San Diego and God knows it’s gone downhill even from then. I was once at the 65 bus stop at South Ealing virtually beside the recycling bins when a young black girl literally threw her empty drink can into the road. No one at the bus stop said a word but I couldn’t help myself and asked whether it was beyond her to put her can into the bin beside the bus stop or the recycling bin. This, needless to say, resulted in a torrent from her and finished with me addressing her as an “ignorant bitch”. This is what we all have to contend with on a daily basis, ignorant people who simply don’t care. That is not the fault of the local council but something far deeper.
Bernadette Paul ● 4805d