Five for Five

The seasonal change is in full swing at the turtle pond near the West End Community Centre: the trees along the bank are changing, goldenrod and asters are scattered on the shore, and the water has that cold September clarity.

One thing that hasn’t changed with the season is the shopping cart accumulation.

Folks are still mistaking this pond for a cart corral. This is the fifth cart we’ve pulled from these ponds this year, and the fifth from local water in three days.

It’s a half cart, small but very well built, so it had to be wrested free. Once it was out, I put it to work. A bag of debris, six beer cans and six plastic bottles from around the pond went into its basket, and it carried the lot along the path before going back to the store.

With the cart gone, the only things in the shallows are whatever the trees drop. Until someone takes a wrong turn with their shopping cart again, which seems easy to do in Guelph.