December 14, 2005
Occupation: Gumbuster
"Britain has a gum-control problem. Look down at any well-trodden pavement and you'll see thousands of white and grey discs flattened across the stone. Each marks the scene of a crime, the moment when a gobbet's minty charm wore off for one idle chewer, who then decided that they couldn't be bothered to wrap it up or wait for a bin and just spat it out where they stood.
"This would be just a minor nuisance - unimportant, even - were it not happening on such a vast scale. It is estimated that three quarters of the British population chew gum regularly. They buy 980m packs a year, and spit out more than 3.5bn pieces - most of which they dispose of 'inappropriately'. The result is millions of little blots on the country's urban landscape, mapping out quite clearly the population densities on each street: great stripes of spots wait outside railway stations, tacky penumbras gather round bus stops, not to mention the hidden horrors of the bus seat and the handrail."
Despite the one-they disagreement, I'm in love with The Guardian's Leo Benedictus. He had me at "gobbet's minty charm." The piece is packed with unexpected statistics and hands-on reporting. Read it.
Posted by Deborah Branscum at 10:27 PM | Comments (0)