On new years eve we watched the fireworks of the neighbourhood (we don't spend money on exploding filth ourselves) and noticed that some of our neighbours neatly collected all their firework garbage on a pile. "Wonderful", we thought, "that will make it easier for them to clean up afterwards". Guess what? The pile is still there in the streets.

This morning I went to do grocery shopping and on my way out took out the garbage. We have these nifty new garbage containers, for all the flats in the neighbourhood, that open with a special card (milieupas) so you can put in one garbage bag at a time and illegal dumping of garbage is impossible. Opening and closing the container more often (for more bags) does not result in a higher fee or anything: it costs you nothing.

Sometimes, however, these nifty containers freeze shut, resulting in a pile of garbage next to the container. (Or we have ignorant people in the neighbourhood that still don't know how to operate the container, even though we received instructions in the mail) And do you think that when the container is unfrozen again, people will just do the little effort of throwing someone else's bag in the container as well? No sir, of course they don't. It's not your garbage so it is not your problem, right? I threw away about ten bags of garbage this morning of which only one was mine... One of the nasty things is that we have a lot of crows around here that pick open the bags when they're lying too long on the street, so you can imagine the mess we now have. So much for the "these new containers will improve the street view and cleanliness of the neighbourhood".

When I returned from the supermarket I saw a man walk his dog, a rottweiler. Nothing wrong with that of course, except that the dog started to shit on the pavement and the man just looked away (as most people do when their dog is doing 'embarrassing business'). So I confronted the guy in a polite way (I even used the word 'u' instead of the informal 'je') but he waved me away. I couldn't help but calling after him "Easy, huh? Having a pet but not taking responsibility?". The man was polite enough not to give me the finger or start shouting insults, as a lot of other people do when you confront them with their rude/irresponsible/antisocial behaviour. Still, he just walked on, waved again and didn't look back. Leaving the turd there for an old lady (of which we have a lot in that block) to step or fall into.

How much trouble is it to teach your dog to do his business in the gutter or in the bushes that grow nearly everywhere next to the side walk? Or, if you can not teach or control your dog, how much trouble is it to pick up the turd with a little sack and throw it in a bin somewhere? My mother does that every time she walks the dogs: she takes responsibility for her animals and cleans up after them so as to minimize the trouble for the neighbourhood. (And even she gets called names by ignorant people that are on the lookout for "nasty dog owners that soil their street", because every dog owner is the same, right?) Why can't we all just do that? It would make life so much better: no one will have to start their day grumpy and stinking because he/she walked into a turd. And mind you: it is not the animal that is at fault here, it is the owner.

Then there's cats, of course. They always seem to shit and pee in the backyard of the neighbour, never in their own yard. (Which is not true, they do it in their own yard too sometimes). I can't agree to that either. If you want to keep a cat: fine, but keep it in your own house and/or yard and do not bother other people with the animal or it's behaviour. This is where Matthijs and I disagree. I don't want my cats outside of our yard (when we finally get a house with a yard, that is), but he wants to let them roam free around the neighbouhood. Aside from befouling the neighbour's gardens I don't want them to get run over by a car or causing accidents or getting stuck in a shed for days. We'll have to talk about that some more I guess.

So we had fireworks, garbage, dog shit. What more? Oh, yes, cigarette buds and candy wrappers. It seems to be normal to just throw the stuff away on the street. I have even seen people do it while they were standing 2 meters away from a garbage bin. Using the ground to put out your cigarette is ok with me, but be responsible and pick up the bud and throw it away like it is any other garbage: in a bin. If there is no bin available, take the bud or other garbage with you in a sandwich bag or something (yes, this takes some preparation. My gosh...) or even in your pocket to throw it away at the next bin or even at home. It is bad enough that you pollute the air and poison yourself and others with the nasty habit of smoking, do you also have to pollute your environment? Of course there are exceptions to what seems to be the rule, but I see this so often. The "Nederland schoon" campaign does not seem to work at all...

So, what's the filthiest animal on this planet? Is it a dog or cat that licks itself from head to toe, including genitals and arse? Is it a pig that wallows in the mud? Birds that bathe in sand? Rats that live in sewers (and who put the filth there?). No, it's us wonderful world dominating humans. The greatest species of all. Gross.