The town of Sylvan Lake, which is in Canada apparently, has banned spitting and swearing in public. Now I am no fan of spitting at all.
Swearing? Well, I'm quite good at it. But I agree that if some bloke was standing on a street corner hurling random abuse, then the powers-that-be should have the law on their side when it comes to stopping him. (Although I would have thought that they already did, with public nuisance laws or whatever they are called).
So now, the town is debating smoking.
Evidently the problem is that smokers are leaving their cigarette butts outside restaurants and bars.
Now, I hate meetings. I think that, for the most part, they are boring and achieve very little. But some people love them. Obviously the town of Sylvan Lake officials must fall into the latter category if they need a meeting about that; several, in fact.
To change the subject slightly, my old mum used to carry a sturdy pair of scissors in her car. This was in England, and the area I'm talking about was nothing like the place I live in now, with its wide roads, intersections and traffic lights every few yards. No, this was a rural area with country lanes.
The main driving hazards, apart from the occasional flock of sheep, were overgrown bushes, trees and hedges that prevented the driver from seeing if the road was clear before making a turn.
Hence the scissors.
My mum didn't say "somebody ought to do something about this" - she'd just stop the car, get out her scissors, and trim the offending foliage, benefiting herself and other road users.
And luckily, there is one official in Sylvan Lake who has the same attitude.
Mayor Susan Samson suggested a perfect solution — that restaurant and bar owners should clean up the butts in front of their own establishments. None of this "somebody should do something about it" malarkey for Mayor Susan and quite right too.
In the old, old, old days, shopkeepers sweeping the areas in front of their stores was a normal and regular sight. They didn't wait for someone to do something about it, they just got on with it.
But the matter in Sylvan Lake still isn't resolved. They are going to have another meeting about it...
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