How lucky am I to live in this beautiful part of the world? The Okanagan is such a treasure with all it has to offer. Dependable weather, many lovely lakes for fishing, boating and swimming, edged with sandy beaches, for those of us who just want to idle away a few hours.

In Oliver we have some of the best scenery in the world, whichever way we turn are displays of vineyards, orchards, picturesque hills and flowing water. How often is the view of Vaseau Lake, with it’s backdrop of McKintire Bluff, to be seen on adverts for vacationing in British Columbia. Given our mainly beautiful weather, our relatively short winters and the abundance of fresh fruit and veggies just steps away, where else would I want to live?

Dave and I, plus our two furry kids, love to walk the local trails and do so regularly, there are so many quiet trails to enjoy and lots of interesting smells for our dogs to explore, so we all return home tired and satisfied. However, so many times on our walks our joy is dampened as we run into that abhorrence or rural life, the illegal dumping ground.

What is the idea behind loading up a truck with odd bits of furniture, a few bags of garbage and an old fridge then, driving to a quiet part of the town and dropping the mess by the side of the path? Some of the places people dump their waste are difficult to get to, the vehicles quite often must have to force their way through brambles and undergrowth to reach the spot. Why can’t the people who force their way through nature’s tangle just drive to the dump? If you want to get rid of your garbage from your yard, why would you think it is acceptable to leave it on someone else’s property?

I know there is a charge for trips to the dump so, if you are too cheap to pay the fee, dump your stuff outside the gates, after dark. Yes this is illegal but so is any dumping, except at the landfill. The clean-up costs from outside the gates of the dump are so much less than cleaning up the countryside. Most likely, the people who go to such lengths to dump their garbage would not go to the landfill even if it were free.

Years ago it was permissible to scavenge at the landfill, well maybe not legal but a blind eye was certainly turned. Dave brought me many treasures for the yard from the dump, a bakers rack, which was perfect for cooling all my pies etc., a milk churn for the yard and lots of useful stuff. Too bad this practice is no longer allowed, surely recycling is better than burying or destruction. I can see that it could be dangerous to have people climbing around the piles of junk, but many people would be happy to go through a kind of flea market and pay a small amount for the “treasures” to be found there. If this was to happen one day per week the money raised from sales could pay for a person to gather the items into one area.

I have quite often driven down to town and passed a piece of furniture or an appliance sitting on the sidewalk, with a “free” sign leaning against it. Quite often this has been taken by my trip home. This is recycling at its best. You don’t want it I need it, what could be better?

This is our town, I love it and so do all the people I have ever spoken to. The people who think it is OK to spoil our surroundings do not belong here, so they need to either smarten up or get out of my back yard!