Environment and nature

Man: Have you seen the notice the council's put up by the play area? They're leaving the whole strip along the railway line uncut until September. Woman: I saw it. And I've already seen three posts online calling it neglect. Someone said it looks as if the council's simply given up. Man: Well, you can see their point. It does look a bit scruffy next to the tidy bit by the swings. Woman: Scruffy to whom, though? A lawn that's cut every fortnight might as well be green concrete as far as insects are concerned. What bothers me about the complaints isn't that people like things neat. That's fair enough. It's that nobody seems to have read the notice. It explains exactly why they're doing it, and there's even a path mown through the middle so you can still walk your dog. Man: I'll be honest, I hadn't read it either until yesterday. I only stopped because my grandson spotted a butterfly he didn't recognise, so we looked it up on the sign. Apparently it hadn't been seen round here for years. I felt rather foolish, since I'd been grumbling about the long grass all week. Woman: So you've come round to it, then? Man: To the idea, yes. Though I still think they should have explained it before they started, not halfway through the summer.