So there I was yesterday morning in the little market town of Brigg, posting my Xmas cards to Canada. As I was walking back to my car I followed a young man with a dog. I don’t know what breed it was, a sort of chunky poodle, with a white curly coat, definitely not a man’s dog.

As we were all walking along the dog felt the call of nature and squatted down, but the young man, obviously aware of what was occurring, just kept on walking, dragging the unfortunate animal along behind him. As result it left little ‘messages’ at regular intervals all along the precinct.

This was wrong on so many levels, not least of which was that he should have cleaned up after it, a pet subject of mine if you’ll excuse the pun.

However, given the age and size of the young man and the fact he was drinking lager in the street before 10am, I decided that cowardice was the best option and kept my opinions to myself.

Not so the lady who was walking in the opposite direction. She must have been 20 years my senior but told him in no uncertain terms that what he was doing was wrong.

Fortunately he ignored her, kept on walking and never looked back. I felt ashamed of myself.