Poo in the Wood

[smokingboot]

There is a dainty nature reserve, positioned discreetly near Crystal Palace. It's a tiny remnant of the Great North Wood, with oaks and limes, birches and yews and tall wild cherry trees. Dog Mercury grows there, indicating ancient forest; it has a guardian, a spry Entling with a passionate expertise in mycology. The forest rewards him after every rainfall with baffling numbers of strangely named fungi. My favourites so far are Trooping Crumblecaps though Destroying Angel comes a close second. I help out at this place and it is very charming. There's old money around here and no lack of it, a genteel quiet end of town, where people walk their dogs, or themselves.

Some of the dog walkers puzzle me. This being a wood, there are no bins in it. But this being a tiny wood, one is never more than fifty yards away from a bin on the pavements opposite the entrances. So, our dutiful dog-walkers often scoop their dogs poo and stick it in little plastic bags, and one might be forgiven for assuming they would then take said poo out of the wood and leave it in one of the bins available. Some do. But others hang the full little bags from the railings around the compound, or on surrounding branches. It's as though they cannot quite work out how poo goes away, or even that it is no-one else's job to remove their dog poo for them. One wonders how long they would enjoy their walks if everyone followed suit. A windy day under the trees would turn into an unforgettable experience.

The thing I find enigmatic is where the reasoning stops; Yes, I see my dog has pooed. Yes, I have come prepared with scoop and plastic bags and gloves. Yes, I scoop up my dog's poo, yes, I place it in the bag, yes, I tie the bag up. But carry the bag to a bin? What kind of madness is this? Where will it all end?

All part of my return to planet Earth...

Comments

[semyaza.livejournal.com]

Poo as talisman perhaps?

[smokingboot.livejournal.com]

or winter fuel for the poor...poo faggots! Why didn't we think of that?

[caffeine-fairy.livejournal.com]

Somewhat like parents who can get their kids to the swimming pool, change them in and out of cossies, but who are completely stumped by what to do with the swim nappy afterwards...

[smokingboot.livejournal.com]

Their bafflement is baffling!

[abutterflygirl.livejournal.com]

We have the same problem here, both along the beach/promenade as well as on the rural walks. Granted some of the places are more remote, but usually there are adequate facilities for disposing at some point along the walk and on the beach they're every few hundred metres! It's almost worst leaving it in the bag because the plastic doesn't decompose, instead it allows the contents to fester until it breaks open again. Uch a fi!

[smokingboot.livejournal.com]

Oh no. No no no. Gewecch!

What does Uch a fi mean? I can infer, but am curious to the actual translation.

[abutterflygirl.livejournal.com]

Ack! It should read 'Ych y fi' sorry autocorrect error! It a slang Welsh word, I guess as a direct translation it would mean 'that disgust me', generally it just meaning something disgusting/unpleasant. My beau just laughed when I mentioned it because the Welsh use it in many situations. He just said tell her it means 'Ewwwwwwwww' and then he pulled a face :-)

Sorry didn't even realise I'd written in Welsh, force of habit :-) Loving the use/meaing of the word 'Gewecch' xx

[smokingboot.livejournal.com]

Ych a fi = Ewwwwwwww!

More phrases for me to remember.

Llower o gariad!
(Tell me if I'm spelling it wrong!)

[abutterflygirl.livejournal.com]

LJ just stole my reply to you - or perhaps my tech-incompetence did... ;-)

Um, just the first word: change the 'o' to an 'a': Llawer o gariad.

Or you could say 'cariad mawr', directly translated as 'great love' but we use it lots of situations as an affectionate ending like 'with love' etc.

I'm touched you've remembered something I told you around 4(?) years ago, I don't usually say things worth remembering!

Hwyl fawr xx (goodbye!)