ONE of the most galling things about the amount of litter dropped these days is that it is often done without thought or care for the ugliness it creates within the town.

I was driving along last week and I witnessed a lad of no more than 14 years of age on his way to school who removed a baguette from its long tubular wrapping and tossed it on to the ground.

It makes one wonder what they teach them in school today, but then I remember when my dad was a caretaker at a school in Manchester in the 1970s, and the state of some of the classrooms were a sight to behold back then.

Each evening he was faced with mountains of paper, books, crayons and rubbish all over the classroom floors.

One would have thought that by now schools would have taught the youngsters to at least respect their environment, which today is only litter free because somebody else is constantly going behind them to pick it all up.

And while the older ones among us moan about this ongoing problem, one wonders what schools do to encourage pupils to be responsible citizens and take their detritus home.

J Dean Address supplied