Don't be a Tosser! Anti-litter Campaign.

Hastings Borough Council are again in the middle of an anti-litter campaign, for example on posters, facebook and twitter (wants to be called X), and it's amusing they've returned to the Don't be a Tosser message, well it amuses me! Indeed, it's a phrase I've often used and an ex-colleague (R.I.P.) used to tell me how much she missed my using this, well, it's better than the alternative. And a wee bit more litter humour in the image below, I do have a sense of humour!

HBC Out of Hours & Other Council Telephone Contact Numbers

Hastings Borough Council Out of Hours telephone number is 01424 451999; a 24/7 service is maintained (website). 📞

Other Contact Telephone Numbers during normal hours:

Litter, graffiti and fly-tipping: 01424 451077;

Collection of bulky household items: 01424 451077;

Abandoned & Untaxed Vehicles on Hastings & St Leonards' highways: 01243 642222;

Street Lighting Faults (East Sussex County Council). Each streetlight has a number, quote this number when calling: 0345 6080 193.

More details may be found at the website.

Another Weekend...

Having just returned from the Tower pub with a few pints of ale, working out at just £2.20 a pint now (also see previous blog), so I thought I'd sit down with a pint and write this... Indeed, another weekend arrives, and it's been 12 weeks since pubs were closed from that Friday evening, and the full lockdown arrived on Monday 11 weeks and 4 days ago. Hastings has since been besieged by visitors at weekends, hopefully PLEASE not ruining our place as having the lowest Covid-19 infection rate in the country (blog).

Having tried all types of tactics to discourage visitors, and making note of the beaches being left with rubbish galore, and visitors urinating and defecating in public places because the toilets are closed, the top image appears the latest poster around, plus the 2 immediately above. I've seen all sorts of arguments for and against opening the public toilets and, on reading through numerous Government advice pages on the internet, I feel it's all pretty difficult to enable opening public loos (also see this interesting Guardian article). The Government advice is ambiguous of course, basically, please don't travel anywhere that is too far to without using the loo, but you can travel as far as you like within England, to Councils, do open public toilets, but you have to ensure 2 metre distancing and that the toilets are cleaned after every time it's used!

A knife in the back for councils, making them shoulder responsibility without giving any extra resources, meaning it's us good old Hastings Council Tax payers who have to foot the bill! Some councils around the country have opened some toilets, but not all, or for limited periods, others remain closed, as in Hastings. The organisation of this would be very difficult, and we've already seen, and have known for a long time, that left to their own devices, some of the public are, frankly, dirty buggers! So, attendants would have to make sure people going into toilets didn't go in when a maximum number were already in, imagine the comments they would receive from people crossing their legs because they're keen to empty their bowels and/or bladders! Then the attendant would have to keep going in to ensure cleanliness, not nice to imagine, nor easy...

And I love this idea for seating in Priory Meadow (above), I bet that works! 😉

Anyway, have a good weekend, and be careful. I shall be battening down the hatches after my early morning walk, with a few pints and DVDs, enjoy!

I have since added another blog that clarifies (I hope) where I was coming from concerning the closure of public toilets etc...

A Quiet-ish Weekend?

Because I was only out early yesterday morning for my daily exercise (I'm still restricting myself to once a day, a personal decision, and 8 miles or so walking), and bought my necessary shopping on the way home, I wasn't outdoors during the day. Consequently, I can't make a proper statement about how any people visiting Hastings behaved, and how many turned up. The image above was indicative of something rare this morning, frankly, there was very little litter about, this photograph was taken not long after 05.00, and Herring Gulls had obviously had an impact! 

Someone I know who lives on the seafront St Leonards way said that it was pretty quiet, people around the old town said George Street and High Street were quiet. Obviously some booze had been brought, or been bought locally, considering the above image by the minigolf courses, and then I've heard about complaints of a male urinating in the street (I could see the problems with the lack of public toilet facilities in my earlier very relevant blog). If anyone has further information please feel free to add a comment, as long as it isn't libellous, thank you. 🙊

Fishing boats have been out both days, Saturday and Sunday mornings, and I suspect overnight Saturday/Sunday, so normality and (some) work goes on thankfully.

All I can say is fingers crossed for today 🙏

Is there an election soon?

First, I noticed this poster around town last week, so, not everyone in Hastings appears to approve of our MP to May 2017, and Home Secretary...

Then this rather more obvious message turned up below Pelham Crescent... 

Quickly painted out, but this level of graffiti isn't correct for Hastings, surely, we should be keeping it clean and tidy for visitors and their photographs, let alone ourselves, whatever any genuine grievances, after all, we pay enough in council tax to pay to keep it clean and tidy, despite gulls, and others, doing their best to fill the town with litter and dog mess! 

But no! Someone from the opposite end of the spectrum has joined in, it appears, so we've vandals of the 'left' and 'right' now, increasing our council tax!?! 

I also saw this image on facebook earlier, someone certainly has it in for the Labour candidate, a "cur" and a "ninny" in his/her/their opinion/s! Now, I went out to take my own photographs of the last 2, but they have either been very professionally cleaned up already, had water-based paint used which was washed away by heavy rain and winds last night, or were originally photoshopped... but who would bother going to such lengths?!? 

Anyway, we've another 3 weeks of this! 😨

Dog Mess - Meeting with Councillors

A little birdie (quite a few of them talk to me) has told me that there will be a meeting with local councillors on Monday evening, 6-8pm, at the Plough up on the West Hill. I believe that the councillors concerned represent Castle Ward, but others may be present too. Whatever, it will allow residents to bring up their concerns about dog mess on pavements and the seafront, and other issues regarding litter could well be discussed too...

The Plough Inn

So, either write to your Hastings Borough councillors, or turn up for 18.00 to 20.00 hours, Monday 29th February 2016, at The Plough Inn, 49 Priory Road TN34 3JJ, a chance to influence policy regarding fouling and litter in Hastings!    

Litter!

A number of things really do annoy me, one of them is litter! As a youngster, and this does start to sound like I'm an old git now, haha, but I was taught not to litter, to either find a bin, or bring rubbish home with me...   

It's not like there isn't enough bins in Hastings, and it's bad enough with the gulls! 

Glad to get that off my chest! Expect other rants to come...