Nutbrook Trail Blues

Cycling down the Nutbrook Trail yesterday to read the footfall counters on the Erewash Canal towpath I noticed after I had passed Stanton Lock that there were many blobs of blue paint along the path and in the grass verges. At first I thought they were markers for some kind of planned works. It was only when I got to Sandiacre, where I dismounted to take the first reading, that I got a closer look. Yes, it is dog poo. Blue dog poo. Someone had been painting the dog poo blue.

I have led a sheltered life. Perhaps others have seen this before, but I was puzzled. I briefly entertained, but soon dismissed, the idea that it was some form of conceptual art. Not out of the question, of course, but more likely at Tate Modern than in Erewash. Then I remembered that it was April 1st. If it was an April Fool's joke then someone had gone to a lot of trouble because the blue poo stretched from Stanton Lock to Dockholme Lock.

I tried to think logically. Perhaps it was a kind of disinfectant, or a product which speeded up decomposition. In which case it would have been done by "The Authorities".  Alternatively it was a way of drawing attention to the offending article so that people did not step in it and/or to make the offenders feel guilty. I liked the idea that it had been carried out by a lone vigilante operating under cover of darkness, except that there would be a good chance in putting your foot in it before you could spray it. But if you wore a miner's helmet.... or perhaps there were two of them, one holding the torch and the other busy with the aerosol....

I was still musing on this when I reached Tamworth Road, where a group of Canals and Rivers Trust workmen were busy repairing the bank.  I asked them if the paint spraying had been done by their organisation (they were wearing sweatshirts the exact colour of the paint!) and they were quick to point out that it had been done by "the volunteers"and not themselves. It was indeed paint and its purpose was to highlight the offence in the hope that it might change behaviour. On my return journey I spotted some new poo in the traditional colours, so it wasn't a 100% success.

Jeff