My Actifit & Clean Planet Journal: Sep 26 2023

Heya Hiva シ

Ready or not, here I come..

-> from following the follower, the dirt potentially foiled.

With Tuesdays being refuse removal days down South.. I once again braced myself for any eventuality, whilst embarking on my Actifit & Clean Planet adventure. For those still unaware, homeless folk down here tend to rummage through the wheelie bins haphazardly - leaving a trail of environmental harm in their wake. With bags torn open each week, it's no surprize then for all kinds of trash to make its way down to the environmentally sensitive wetlands. Though I of course feel for these poverty stricken individuals.. at the same time, the act is deliberately inconsiderate. Each week, I therefore find myself strategizing in an attempt to foil their dirty actions; so that I do not have to (like today), find foil in the dirt.

But photographically, I'm getting ahead of myself. So, let's start at the beginning. As I bravely ventured out, I was saddened to see that the usual Tuesday madness had already played out. The wheelie bin where I stay was wide open (lid swaying in the wind), the bags inside torn, and the contents ready to blow away. I immediately closed the lid, and collected this lone top from an opened tin can - littered alongside.

Though this next photo is hardly picturesque.. that's actually a good thing. It means this rubbish hasn't made it to any greenery yet. So before it could do that, I was able to bag it up.

It wasn't only new litter scattered around, as this old broken piece of glass testifies. Though obviously not more important.. it's the collection of the older pieces which seems to bring me a greater sense of accomplishment. I guess that's how I measure the impact of what I'm doing here.

What a beautiful day! After soaking it up, I thought I'd try something different and 'rough it' towards the left hand side.

That was an understatement! The grass/reeds were so overgrown that I was worrying about getting ticks on me. I managed, however to recover this empty 2 litre plastic milk bottle. That was a great find indeed!

Having already had that success, and the route itself proving too cumbersome for now.. I thought I'd run through the more familiar territory on the right hand side. Besides, my cute friends were waiting to say 'hi', and like a some days ago, I once again brought them a healthy little treat of seeds.

Moving on, I found a broken shard of what seemed to ge a glass milk bottle ("melk" in Afrikaans). Now the milk in South Africa is typically sold in either plastic sachets, cardboard boxes or plastic bottles. I'm therefore guessing that this must have been from some sort of decorative milk holder (in which purchased milk would then typically be poured).. that's what I'm thinking anyway.

I picked this up out of the water logged reeds.. I don't know what it was. It didn't belong there anyway.

If you compare this photo to the one I took yesterday, you'd see that things are looking a bit more normal. The water is receding after the major storm.

With this part of the wetlands looking pretty clean now, I thought I'd start a more intensive scan over the coming days. That area round this thick bush seemed like an interesting place to start to investigate!

This is interesting! I managed to find something sticking out.

Ever careful for snakes and spiders, I carefully exposed what appears to have been some sort of plastic plant holder.

Then some newspaper. This got me thinking.. there's been some terrible mountain fires down here. Could any have been started with dry newspaper and broken glass (like the pieces I've been finding). That's a scary thought!

It was a sizeable piece. Happy to dispose of it properly. Have you noticed all the pine needles around!.. but there's no pine tree. I'm guessing that there must have been one here at some point. I have my theories - for another day perhaps.

More broken glass.. was just talking bout that as you know!

It was around this time when I located the foil in the dirt (first photo). Shortly after that, I became extremely anxious! Someone was approaching my position from the rear. With the criminal aspect always on my mind, I had an important decision to make. Advancing further than usual did not seem like a clever idea (as I am not familiar with those parts as of yet). Nor was simply holding my existing position. He was watching me. I could see it. But was he friend or foe?! I wasn't going to find out. I made the decision to go off the path and cut back to the tar road running alongside. Heart racing, I then made my way back in to the wetlands. The mysterious individual may be seen ahead in the distance. Curiously, he walked deep into the bush.

A few deep breaths later and I was back to work. Managed to get this plastic bottle outta here.

The same with this piece of cardboard. On an interesting side note, I spotted this when I was playing it safe with the mystery individual earlier.

I still haven't worked out what this was. Some sort of cement fragment I guess. It had a curious pattern to it, as evident on the photograph.

Called it a day after this last piece of trapped newspaper. I needed a cup of coffee after all of this!

With each passing day, this part of the wetlands are becoming more and more pristine. At the same time, I'm growing more and more weary of the unknown.

The haul was photographed and placed into the municipal bin where I stay (after they had already collected for the week). As there were no bags to combine it with, I left the whole carrier in there for now. Re-using it so many times already, I think I can justify a replacement (it's not in the best of shape anymore). It was a great day to clean the planet whilst getting fit.

Seeking peace,

ma3str0

Special thanks to @actifit and my 'eco-citizen' friends over at @cleanplanet , @cleanyourcity & @solarisfuture - stoked to be part of the solution, whilst getting fit in the process.

Disclaimer:

My writing in 'My Actifit & Clean Planet Journal' is original, with inspiration drawn from my surroundings - all whilst placing one foot in front of the other. For stylistic reasons, the greeting, farewell & footer may be repeated across posts - with the actual main body of content remaining 100% unique. Any accompanying photos were taken by me. Others' logos used as permitted. Nothing should be construed as any form of advice. Practice due diligence. All Rights Reserved.
This report was published via Actifit app (Android | iOS). Check out the original version here on actifit.io

26/09/2023

5040

Daily Activity, Walking

Height 193 cm		Weight 79 kg		Body Fat 18.6 %
Waist 92 cm		Thighs 54 cm		Chest 98 cm