Concerned resident, Ermelo:
Firstly, my sincere thanks to the people who organised the Pet Dam clean-up and fishing competition held on Saturday.
What an awesome idea!
For those who participated in this event, whether cleaning up or fishing, fun was had.
We were very fortunate that we had a kind business owner, who arrived on the Friday and cleaned up most of our area. Three tons of rubbish was removed!
We therefore arrived on the Saturday to participate in the fun part – very little cleaning and lots of socialising with friends.
We were having a fun competition among ourselves when uninvited guests arrived and parked right in the area we were occupying.
As Pet Dam is a community area, we accepted this and could not complain as the music they were playing was good and at an acceptable level.
However, when their braai came out and the first bottle hit the ground, we went to the gentlemen and ladies (for want of better words) and explained the event taking place. We even handed them a garbage bag to dispose of their rubbish.
As the afternoon progressed and they consumed more “beverages”, it became very obvious that the gate-crashers were there to try and antagonise the people in the vicinity.
Luckily, being law-abiding citizens and more interested in enjoying ourselves, we completely ignored them.
They eventually decided, since nothing was going to happen, to get back into their vehicles and leave, as all their other friends were enjoying the dam on the other side!
They seemed to have taken our information about the clean-up of the area so that others can enjoy the dam, to heart, as they left a huge mess behind, because we were, after all, there to clean up!
They were even as kind as to use the garbage bag we had given them as a table cloth and to pour their left-over sheba onto it!
I would like to offer my “thanks” to these uninvited guests, as I am sure they were worried that we had forgotten why we were there.
We never spend time relaxing at Pet Dam with friends and family, because of the mess that is always there.
I am really glad that we had the opportunity to show our community spirit and pride to those who do not know the meaning of either!
