19. No, not the J. Edgar kind...

Litterpicking East out of the Village on the Laverton Meadows road, on the South side approaching the turn to the Gas Station, we come across a group of small plastic rods in the grass. Because of the subtle and long-term damage that plastic does to the soil and to the environment generally (and, we learn increasingly, our brains and bodies! Ugh) we have a zero tolerance to the stuff. We begin carefully picking them up and putting them in the bag. They're small and everywhere, and hide in small places, but in a few minutes...WHAT???

We realise they really ARE everywhere! On both sides of the road! For 20 or 30 yards! Scattered in the dried cement slurry on the other side of the road, the North side, leading up to the turn into the Gas Station (if you're walking here, take care: every vehicle that passes kicks up a cloud of cement dust which just can't be good for you). In the grass. In the road. Thousands. And thousands more. EVERYWHERE.

There is simply no way we can get all these out of the environment manually. It would take

An Industrial, Portable Hoover !

 Which we don't have.

(Maybe at the next Parish Meeting we can ask for one)*.

 April 20, 2025: Part of the sea of small plastic rods on the approach to the Gas Station entrance, pictured here in the dried slurry of cement.

 April 26, 2025: Macadam meets Nature: North side of the road, before the gas station turn

 April 26, 2025: Grassy verge, South side of the road.

 April 26, 2025: Could almost be a dried river bottom.

* We could get one made by Zamboni, in case the Isbourne freezes over or we get an ice rink in the village hall. And it could have a special attachment to convert it into a ride-on mower, for when the current one has to retire.