Letter: So many banana-faced grumps at the tip in New Forest

Certainly since the general election, I have noticed a continual decline in people’s attitudes and general demeanour to life in general. The government’s seemingly incoherent and barely-thought-out policies are without doubt an increasing the problem to what is already a slippery slide.

Putting aside the details for their reasoning for the time being, I thought that a recent visit to one of Hampshire’s ‘tips’ summed up the situation.

There was the usual crowd of operatives all in their full body high-vis attire, some of whom were wandering around aimlessly trying to look busy.

There were very few cars present when I arrived at my allocated time, and only two cars arrived while I was there. In other words, the staff outnumbered the visitors.

Every single operative had a face like a banana. Shoulders were hunched and not a smile in sight. I said good morning to one of them, only to be met with a blank stare. As I had a complex array of ‘goodies’ to leave, I asked another gentleman which things went where. Few words were spoken, just a grunt and a general wave of the hand indicating direction as he wandered off.

I am almost 80 years of age and had quite a large mix of stuff to get rid of. No-one offered to give me a hand. Three men were just standing around chatting among themselves. I thought of asking one of them, but 45 years of dealing with local authorities has taught me one thing: I anticipated a reply of “It ain’t my job mate” or “I don’t get paid to do that”, and the best one always refers to health and safety.

They obviously didn’t want to be there, so I decided not to proceed with my request. This sums up life as it stands. Where next?

Name and address supplied