WELL folks, the 'Road Hog', that's me again, was driving on my mobility scooter into Okehampton from Hatherleigh on a fine Monday in June.

I usually take the road from Jacobstowe through Abbeyford Woods, which is the designated Tarka Trail into Okehampton. I call the road Bone Shaker Lane, the reason for which is very apparent to anyone who uses it.

Of course, I am not talking about all the people in cars and lorries who use the road as a quick through road into Okehampton — you obviously don't notice the holes too much and I'm not blaming you for making the holes — but I really do wish that someone from the authorities who is in charge of keeping this road in order would drive up there on a bike or a scooter and see what it does for your joints. It's only the fact that it is a beautiful route that I still continue to use it.

Anyway there I was on the Hatherleigh to Oke Grand Prix circuit using my scooter at 6 mph and keeping well in, just in case I got swiped by a wannabe race driver doing 70mph, when I noticed several dead animals on the road such as foxes and badgers and one very large deer, who obviously encountered the front end of a fast vehicle. It's a shame that some drivers find it impossible to slow down a bit and thereby avoid these animals as well as damage to their own vehicles.

I wonder if I'm the only one who has noticed lots of mysterious little packages around the lanes and out of the way open spaces, the sort of areas you can take a dog for a quiet walk.

These little packages are usually hanging on tree branches, just like Christmas trees, and on fences, sometimes just placed at the side of a path. From the outside they look like something just purchased at the supermarket and placed in a small plastic type bag.

Alas on closer inspection I discovered they have been produced by small to large dogs, and then neatly placed in the plastic bags. There is just one thing wrong: the owners of the said packages find it difficult to carry them to a disposal bin, or take them home.

If you can go to the effort of bagging it, then why can't you remove it? Has it become radioactive or perhaps extremely heavy or maybe it's very large? Then take a wheeled trolley with you.

Should I see anything that catches my eagle eye when travelling around, I'll let you know.

Monty Montgomery

Morris Close

Hatherleigh