WASTED WATER

 You would think that the extreme heat here (and elsewhere in the world) would alert people to save water. Alas, no, we are too selfish and abuse its availability. This tap in a local park is in a lamentable state. Its better-looking faucet was removed because kids would put balloons on the end, fill them with water, and throw the balloons at each other. Sounds like fun, and  is, but they were not educated to pick up the burst balloons, which were scattered around for 'someone else' to pick up, or worse, for birds to swallow them. In the latter case, the popped and stringy rubber can get caught in a bird's or other animals digestive track and kill them. So, dare I say rightfully, the park people turned off the water and removed the taps. Not to be outdone, some enterprising parent of older kid fashioned a new tap, which is very hard to turn on and off, and often runs all the time. It saddens me to see water wasted.