Be honest! How many pet lovers out there pick up their dear doggy’s doo-doo while walking on the beach?
Many of those very same people are quick to complain when party people trash our beachfront… and rightfully so, especially with the mid-year holidays upon us.
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Those old enough to watch TV in the 80s will remember a friendly little ostrich cartoon character named Zibi and his comical buddies, the broom and the dustbin. The accompanying jingle, ‘Zap it in the Zibi Can’, was infectious and quite effective.
Alas, these days it’s: ‘Zap it on the Ground… Next to the Zibi Can’.
Or, in many a dog owner’s case… ‘don’t scoop the poop’. Leave it up to some unsuspecting sucker’s toes or beach towel.
Tweni beach, for example, is a hive of activity in the late afternoons at this time of year. The sea is often like glass and what better time for Goofy to take Pluto for a walk?
Sitting on a beach chair, sipping a fruit juice (OK, guilty! It was fermented) and ‘sucking on sickly sausage rolls’ (Jethro Tull), my little sundowner party was witness to what can only be described as a gut-churning scene recently.
Not 20m away, a dog went into the tell-tail ‘poop position’ right in front of us. The owner holding the leash turned her head, either to avoid the fresh, distinctive stench or to spare her pet’s delicate feelings.
Then she proceeded to scoop out a hole in the sand with a small stick and nudge the excrement into the shallow ‘grave’.
They then both sauntered off into the sunset… oblivious to us all gagging nearby.
On the upside, full marks to all restaurants who are discouraging ‘slurping’. You know, that sound one makes when you come to the last dregs of a milkshake. But it’s not the ‘slurp’… its the straws that have become ‘weapons of mass destruction’ (George Bush and Tony Blair?)
There is definite proof that our oceans are becoming clogged to such an extent that a recent post mortem on a whale in Bangkok found it was ‘death by plastic’.
We South Coasters love our whales, which are due soon and one famous Ramsgate restaurant has really been innovative by charging patrons R1 a straw.
This money then goes to the very active local conservancy which looks after what is arguably the best whale viewing deck on the coast.
So, it’s either fork out a coin… or exchange the ‘slurp’ for a milk moustache.
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