Nik Butler: brollies abandoned in aftermath of storms and floods

There has been an unexpected side effect from the torrential downpour these recent storms.

Quite apart from the restructuring, the re-arrangement and relocation of various parts of the district landscape and borders.

It is as if Horsham has experienced an overnight Mary Poppins flash mob convention and the resulting aftermath of which is the abundance of now abandoned,unwanted and broken umbrellas.

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It is not possible to walk from Littlehaven to Horsham town centre without having to carefully sidestep over some vagrant brolly which has been tossed aside after its moment of gale force destruction.

Indeed some of the waste bins within and surrounding the town centre appear positively overflowing with the remnants of these modern devices of dry intention.

You would be hard placed to determine this were not some sort of modern art masterpiece which had been strewn so playfully around our streets or gathered mockingly around the bins. It must surely be some sort of art installation, created for our appreciation, because the alternative is simply that people are abandoning their demolished brollies at first instance. Which is technically just litter.

Could Horsham folk, being such modern and well mannered individuals, ever stoop to such low behaviour as this? The very idea that members of this Market Town would give not a moments thought to their fellows in favour of walking away from their rubbish responsibilities is anathema to us all; surely? Therefore the only reasonable assumption to be made is that we are experiencing some free form expression of publicly funded art; displayed until such time as the items are removed.

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Hopefully through such times and in such conditions as we are experiencing the metal and fabric remains of these orphaned items of ownership will not clog the drains or harm fowl or fauna whilst they remain free.

This then explains much about the manner of this Market town. When snows come and fields fall to ice and sledge it is not litter and debris which is left behind but some form of artisanal statement delivered on Denne Hills fine flanks for the residents to appreciate. There can be no other explanation for such crass consideration of public spaces.

Actually there is one. It is that the lazy and the self invested, or the unaffected, are willing to place themselves before others and at the cost of their community. They expect no consequences for their actions.