Monthly Musing – July 2026 – Leave nothing but footprints
I saw a feature on TV last night about a music festival where they aim to “leave only footprints” in the fields where the festival takes place after the visitors have left. They have eco-friendly systems in place to run over the weekend from electricity and sewerage to transporting the visitors, and even a repair shop to mend tents and trollies that might otherwise be left behind if they were broken. There’s a payment system for people to earn as they collect rubbish so that everyone is encouraged to clean up after themselves, and the innovative ideas are already being taken on board by other festivals. It all sounds like something to make a noise about!
One of the footpaths where I walk with the dog has a sign board which reads, “Take only pictures, leave only footprints” and I’m sure you’ve seen similar signs in the countryside and at beaches. We shouldn’t really need to be reminded to take our rubbish home, but it seems to be one of those in things (in the UK at least) where people think it’s acceptable to leave behind what they don’t want for someone else to clean up. Fly-tipping is a big problem in Winwick, with farmers regularly finding sofas, mattresses and bags of rubbish left in their fields overnight.
Signs and fines don’t really seem to be the answer as those who intend to break the rules don’t read signs, and those who don’t break the rules are always disappointed to be reminded not to do something as if the assumption is that everyone does. Sometimes, the sign can be an incentive to break the rules when you wouldn’t do normally – “Don’t walk on the grass” is the one that always calls to me like a siren song whenever I see it and even if I never had any intention of leaving the path, I can feel myself being drawn to the green stuff as surely as if someone took my hand and pulled me there!
I was brought up to try to leave a place in a better condition than when I found it so leaving only footprints is something that’s been ingrained since childhood. It never occurs to me that the intention behind leaving nothing but footprints is anything but the suggestion that nobody should know we were there, except for a mark on the ground which will disappear with the rain or be washed away by the tide.
I’ve been painting a windowsill today and Astrid the cat has been desperate to help. It’s a room that she rarely goes into but once I was in there with the door shut, she needed to be in there with me more than anything in the world. Paint and cats are not a good combination (unless in portrait form, which this certainly wasn’t), so I kept the door firmly closed. I have no idea how she managed it, but she was in there, inspecting the paintwork along the full length of the windowsill.
How do I know? She left nothing but footprints …
This made me giggle. You know cats too well! I’m back to knitting after a break and abacus socks and a great jumper in wys 4ply from my magazine. Lots of tipping back but really missed my knitting.
I bet it feels good to be back, even with the unravelling! I think the hot weather has made a difference; I’ve found it more difficult to knit over the summer just because everything has felt slower xx
I totally agree with your musings on litter where ever I go with my 2 dogs be it beach or woods or fields I always pick up after people My husband bought me a litter picker and bag holder for my birthday from a company who make them from recycled plastic best gift ever! (well except for wool ofcouse) keep up the great work x
That’s a very kind thing that you do for your community when you’re out with your dogs, and I bet your rubbish bags are always more full than you’d like. I hope you found a bit of treasure, too! 🙂 xx
I live on the North East coast – in a colliery village. Last weekend a group of volunteers went to the next one south and picked 24 bags of rubbish -those big blue bags! That didn’t include the stuff too big for bags! grr
There was an accident in the Port of Tyne recently – one ship knocked another and damaged a container. Full of plastic nurdles. It’s taking forever to try to pick them up – they are being found miles down the coast now 😢
My reason for posting is about ‘white rabbits’ on the 1st of the month. I’m a Somerset girl really and we would only say ‘white rabbits’ if there was an ‘R’ in the month. Saying it every month seems to be a Northern thing, I have a friend in West Yorks who says it monthly as well.
My Cornish Gran would’ve gone out on the 1st of the month specially if there was a New Moon but anytime she saw one and turn a sixpence round in her pinny pocket 3 times to ensure they had enough money that month.
Doncha love a country habit?
Oh no, that’s a terrible mess created by the shipping accident! So many of those things will never get picked up. Good on the litter pickers for doing such a sterling job – but what a lot of litter they had to collect! I love the story about your Gran, not least because of the image of the sixpence in her pinny pocket. I couldn’t imagine women wearing pinnies on a daily basis these days! 🙂 xx
Just lovely – Astrid is a very typical cat! Ours would have done the same back in the day.
We too were taught to leave no trace behind when out anywhere. My childhood coincided with the Keep Britain Beautiful campaign. it is a great shame that the amount of littering and flytipping shows that so many people have no pride in or concern for our beautiful country and countryside.
Happy August everyone.
I don’t know that any amount of campaigns make any difference to some people, it’s just a shame that it seems to be thought of as acceptable. I don’t know what it is that attracts cats to wet paint, wet concrete – anything that leaves their indelible mark! 🙂 xx
😂😂😂 Many years ago, I worked in a National Trust shop, and when the doorway had a new concrete pathway laid, we just knew that something would leave prints overnight! It was one of the estate cats! Our own Hollywood walk of fame! 😂
I was brought up to always take litter home, even a sweet wrapper had to be picked up. We’ve just returned home from the Lake District where we saw many notices about taking rubbish home. It seems to be a growing problem in the countryside unfortunately.
Don’t ya just love that cats must always leave their mark. I have a line of paw prints in a concrete path laid some years ago, a gentle reminder of a lovely little chap.
Before mobile phones we had a phone box on our country lane that was greatly used by visitors from a small caravan site nearby, most summer evenings there was a queue to use it, so inevitably there was all their rubbish. A couple of us locals regularly cleared it up and we even found money that had been dropped! I must admit I did it for selfish reasons – blowing litter would frighten my horse as I rode past!
I don’t know why people who go on holiday think it’s OK to leave the places they stay in a worse condition than they found it. We knew some people whose job was to clean holiday lets and they often said they wondered what the guests’ houses were like back at home given the state they left the holiday house. I love that you’ve got everlasting paw prints in your path! 🙂 xx
I think litter is a problem generally – as if to prove my point, earlier today I saw someone tossing a fast food bag out of a car window as they drove along. What’s all that about? I love your Hollywood walk of fame and the immortalisation of one of the estate cats. Imagine if it had been a different footprint – that would have been a talking point! 🙂 xx
I too was brought up in the Keep Britain Tidy era. I was upset the other day when a ticket I bought for parking flew off my dash board through the open window. I did think of going back to pick it up but it was on a fast moving road. 😞
Oh, it was probably as well that you didn’t stop! I don’t like it when I accidentally drop litter either, but at least I’m not tossing sofas out of the car windows! xx
I’m in Virginia US – love hearing all of the posts from “the old country” – all my mum’s side are from the UK, so we feel a connection.
We are big on keeping things tidy in the US, too – at least in Virginia. But have more or less success.
I have two cats – British Shorthairs, one big boy named Blue Peter (you know why) and another from Scottland originally named Jude. They are my New Testament cats! Thank you for reading my rambling.
Hello Valerie, it’s lovely to hear from you! You’re the second person whose comment I’ve read today who has British Shorthairs – they are obviously very popular cats! 🙂 xx