Saturday Morning litter pickup

Litter pick up by the Canal

I joined with the Friends of the Grand Canal this morning to pick up litter. There is a meetup once a month on the first Saturday of the month from 10am to 12pm. All you need to do to join is to turn up at the bench near Leeson Street Bridge on the Canal.

I collected my litter picker and two bags and then set off in the direction of Leeson Street to pick litter. There was a large amount of people volunteering today and most stayed along the canal. I prefer to leave the canal area and pick litter on the streets close by - I figure that if it doesn't get picked it will blow in to the canal so better to get to it before it gets in to the water.

In total, I filled two bags in a little over an hour. Definitely a job worth doing on a Saturday morning!

Join up with the clean up

If you are interested in cleaning up the canal you can come along to the next meetup - or you can contact Dublin City Council by email to request a litter picker and bags and they will drop them to your house which means you can pick litter in your own area in your free time. 

Happy picking!

The Glass Castle

I read "The Glass Castle" by Jeanette Walls a few years ago and found it very moving. I heard that was going to be made in to a film and was looking forward to seeing it.

I borrowed it from the library the other day and we watched it last night.

It was so sad. Way too say.  It was very upsetting and it made me so mad. It is one thing to want to have an alternative lifestyle but it is completely out of order to bring children along for the ride and then leave them starve while you pursue your artistic endeavours or even worse feed your addiction.

The Glass Castle stars the amazing Brie Larson but by god, it is a tough watch.

This morning we were minding Cleo so we took both dogs on a long walk. Ciaran brought them to the park first to run around and then I met them and we walked some more around the Ranelagh/Leeson Street area.  I brought along a litter picker and a plastic bag and in about 30 minutes I filled the bag.  Most of it was cans, plastic bottles, vodka bottles & fast food containers.

I feel like it is well worth picking up litter when I go out walking but I just wish people would use the public litter bins and stop dropping it on the ground. I can only hope that people will give up this dirty habit. And of course there are lots of groups who meet up regularly to clean areas. You can read about them here and here. It all helps!