Tuesday 6th April 2021 - Looking for the Reset Button and Cromer's McDonalds

I am frantically searching for the reset button. No, not for my laptop, tablet or phone but the one that will reset the weather back to this time last week when we were gearing up for an evening BBQ in our garden. Easter Sunday brought with it some sun but there was a cooling breeze which kept the temperatures down. Apart from Sunday, the weather over the Easter period has been pretty unimpressive and today we have seen hail and snow flurries. These have been interspersed with sunny periods which made me think it would be warm outside, definitely not the case – it’s bitterly cold with temperatures of 3°C and wind speeds of 40+mph. I half-jokingly said to Peter that the winds are so cold they must be coming straight down from the North Pole which, after listening to the weather forecast, proved to be true.

The opening of the new McDonalds in Cromer has resulted in a number of posts on social media. I am not a fan of fast foods and in most cases would rather go hungry than subject myself to this type of mass produced food. The last time I ate, well drunk actually, anything from McDonalds was at Gatwick Airport. This was some years ago, so in fairness things may have improved, while waiting for a flight and with all other refreshment outlets closed and wanting a drink, we opted for a coffee from McDonalds. Well, it may have smelt like coffee but taste like coffee; it did not. But, I digress from the posts on social media. Just as soon as the planning application was approved by NNDC for the McDonalds in Cromer, then comments of delight abounded and again later when they were recruiting staff. However, when someone posted about the litter it was likely to generate, they were told litter was a small problem the big plus was the jobs that would be generated by the new outlet. Fair comment, but only days after their opening on 31st March, there are posts on NextDoor about litter, specific to McDonald’s packaging, spotted on roadsides and on a driveway (we saw a discarded drink container when passing through Trimingham on Friday). One particular post, stressed that this is not a direct fault of McDonalds, who have a designated member of their staff to deal with litter. As to whether they are responsible for the immediate area around the take-away/restaurant as well as further afield was not defined. The real blame for litter lies with those members of the public who have purchased take-away food and not disposed of the packaging thoughtfully. Peter found an interesting article covering a McDonald’s survey which reveals those responsible for littering and asks them to be accountable. So far, we have not seen any discarded McDonald’s packaging in Overstrand but after litter picking the car park, where there are three bins close to hand, I picked up not only ice cream wrappers and lolly sticks, discarded after buying ices from the ice-cream van, but also forks dropped after eating the buckets of chips from the trailer on Friday. I wish I knew how to get through to people it is not okay, in fact it is an offence, to drop litter. As I don’t, Peter and I will continue litter picking to try to keep the area of the village we walk regularly; tidy.

Today’s photos were taken this morning showing the snow on the roof on the Sports Pavilion plus one of the hand painted Easter stones, left in a village planter – thank you whoever placed it there, it brought a smile to my face.