The beach started to fill up before 7am today, there was wall to wall sunshine from first thing. The hardy swimmers came and went before the crowds really started to gather.  The deck chair man had his first really good day of the season, with most of his chairs occupied by about 11 am. There were even some pedallos out.

I was a bit miffed by the company that collects the refuse from our collection points. one miscreant had used a disposable barbecue on the each and left it next to the bins on the sea front. There were several bags of litter with it and I hoped that they would collect it with the rubbish.  for some reason the driver had taken the tray of the barbecue but tipped the ash and charcoal out onto the pavement. I can't think why. One of my colleagues had to go back with a shovel to clear it all up. Today's money saving tip for parents: Don't buy a bucket and spade for your child, just  get down to the beach early and collect one that has been abandoned the day before. It would appear that it is becoming normal practice to buy new everyday. Considering the huge numbers of people on the beach, many of whom were tucking into fish and chips when I left, the amount of litter was very light. We have, however, managed to fill six wheeled waste bins in the last three days.  There are numerous plastic drinks bottles, as well as cans and glass bottles that will ultimately be heading to landfill, so I feel that there is a good case for returning to the system that I grew up with, namely having deposits on these items to encourage people to return them for recycling or re-use.  We would see crowds of people scouring the town for dumped containers to return.  When we went to New England some years ago there were centres where you could take cans and bottles and get 5 cents each for them. At today's prices we would be looking at around 15p per item which is added to the price of the drink and would be recoverable on return.
Tonight I'm back at the theatre showing the new Top Cat movie so another full day's work for me.

Today's Stats are: 17598 steps, 7.5 miles

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