Thursday, June 17, 2010

Burn, bash & bury

As Girl Guides we were strictly enjoined to leave our campsite as far as possible in the condition in which we found it. There would, inevitably, be yellow patches in the grass where our tents had been pitched, but they would soon recover when exposed once again to the sunlight. Divots must be replaced. And all waste or litter disposed of.

For waste disposal the mantra was Burn, Bash & Bury. Especially the cans which had contained the soup, beans or tomatoes on which we feasted.

Burning took place as the campfire subsided; cans were then bashed with the wooden mallets we used for hammering in the tent pegs, rather than jumping up & down on them, & the blackened remains buried in the pit we had dug at the edge of the field.

Come to think of it that is how we dispose of household waste today, under the rather more technical sounding terms incinerate, compact, landfill.

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