The Red Mist - like anyone actually cares…

It’s been a while since I last dumped my brain here, but something that happened yesterday has me confused, and I need to vent it.

I was enjoying a wonderful balmy evening’s walk on the tiddly-om-pom-pom here in Llanfairfechan yesterday, and as I wandered across the car-park, I espied a small but significant mound of fast-food wrapping that had been desposited by some lazy, ignorant arsehole who couldn’t or wouldn’t walk 15 yards to the nearest litter bin.

If there’s one thing that completely pisses me off, it’s litter. OK, the Iraq war too, but that’s different.

As I walked over to the litter and deposited it in said bin, a voice from a nearby car called out “Good citizen!”. I looked up to discover that the voice belonged to a young chap, accompanied by a similarly young gel, in a car parked nearby.

I might have taken this apparent compliment at face value, had it not been for the large paper cup - the kind you get in fast food outlets - complete with straw, standing neatly on the floor by the passenger door. Was this a coincidence? Was the compliment genuine, and the rubbish nothing to do with the occupants of the car (I’d like to think so), or was it their detritus, and the “compliment” really a jibe? If the latter - why bother? Why draw attention to the fact that you’re an uncaring, lazy slob, and poke unprovoked fun at those who do give a damn?

Weird.

Whatever the intention, I take the words “good citizen” being directed at me as a compliment, because I happen to think that I am a good citizen, and that it’s my duty to be one.