Pebble Dash & Pick. Thursday 29th August 2024
Planets align on the horizon above the pier this morning just before the sun comes up and overwhelms their light. The sea is blissfully still after probably the most perfect evening of this summer when the community en masse came onto the beach into the dark hours. The community were still swimming, well past the rare liminal moments between day and night, the water and air temperature differential allowing everyone the luxury of a dreamy night swim.
But to the ardent pebble dasher with pier and back PBs and rubbish treasure on my mind all I can think of is what’s been left behind. I’ve got an old Royal Mail sack in anticipation of larger loads, clutching like Silas’ comforter in one hand as I start the dash. My competitors have the smaller capacity bag for life. I see the bags with their various gaudy seasonal designs used this way as penance for their obvious distraction from the greater problems of throwaway plastic use. We aren’t going to “bag for life” our way out of the single use plastic hell we find ourselves in. I have no idea whether the bag for life scheme has actually worked to reduce our plastic use or not. I just know I have more of them than I ever have need for shopping, and that’s probably replicated everywhere. I’d prefer the the Rwandan way (a country whose name is used to imply draconian measures) whereby plastic bags are just outright banned. It appeals to my inner despot perhaps…
I have to go to work. I’ll let today’s totals tell the story of the run and save a deep dive into the growing problem of open defecation for another morning.
45 mins there and back approx. (with walks for emptying bag and wheezing, and a few sprints)
3 sack empties
3 bagged dog shits
2 McDonald’s midden piles
3 mini Prosecco bottles (proving a minor point that even the mildly upwardly aspiring boozy consumer can be a littering c*nt alongside the super strength lager and energy drink quaffers)
Pebble dash trash bingo was achieved only collectively today: a pair of shoes (albeit worn out ones), a practical item (reading glasses), brand new smart cloth, and the ubiquitous lighter.