“Careful with the door,” I said, handing over the keys. “It’s an automatic, so don’t worry about the gears. ”
The friend taking over the van nodded, already fiddling with the seat. We were parked along the Elbe for a weekend of fishing, and I was heading home.
The plan was simple: he’d use the van, I’d come back Sunday. Before I walked off, I paused. “By the way, nothing expensive is in there. It’s just all the paperwork and gear.
”
“Yeah, yeah. Safety first,” he said. I climbed out, stretched, and glanced at the field where we’d be setting up camp later. The sun was warm.
The water was calm. It was supposed to be a relaxed weekend. Famous last words. —
Later, back at the riverbank, the mood shifted fast.
We were setting up the inflatable boat, dragging it toward the water, when one of the others looked at my van and asked, “So, what’s wrong with it? I remember you said you had transmission trouble. ”
I shrugged. “Yeah.
It’s got a problem with the automatic gearbox. Less than 33,000 kilometers on it and it’s already acting up. ”
“That’s brutal. ”
“Honestly, it’s a great vehicle.
But since a few weeks, the transmission has been acting weird. And the dealership said if it’s the module, that’s like 2,500 euros just for that part. The full transmission? Way more.
”
He winced. “That’s insane. ”
“Yeah,” I said, pushing the boat further into the shallows. “Everything costs a fortune these days.
But you can’t do much about it, right? ”
We talked shop for a while, comparing notes on our vehicles, the usual stuff. Then I knelt down in the water, feeling how cool and pleasant it was against my feet, and looked over my shoulder. “Alright, let’s get this thing set up.
”
—
We spent the afternoon messing with the gear, debating chair placements, and checking where to position the rods. “We should anchor that direction,” one of the guys said, pointing toward the little dock. “Yeah, that’s where we’re fishing,” I said. “Let’s get the first lines out.
”
There was laughter, jokes about people forgetting condoms, someone bragging about winning a grill in a giveaway. The bits and the sound effects were flying, mostly from Flo, who loved hearing himself talk and always had the chat going wild. “Love Island, huh? ” someone teased as we moved the chairs.
“Yeah, exactly. Love Island on the Elbe,” I shot back. It was fun. It was easy.
A normal fishing weekend with the boys. Until I stepped away from the group and noticed what was lying on the ground near the bank. —
A camping hammer. My camping hammer.
It must have slipped out of my backpack when I set it down earlier. “Hey,” I said to no one in particular, picking it up. “There it is. I thought I’d lost it.
”
I shoved it back into my bag and zipped it shut. No harm done. But then my eyes wandered further down the shore. There were grill remnants.
Empty coal bags just tossed there. Plastic cups. A few stray bits of tackle. Someone had clearly been here before us and couldn’t be bothered to take their trash.
“You’ve got to be kidding me,” I muttered. The others came over to see what I was staring at. “Look at this,” I said, pointing at the mess. “They just leave all this crap lying here.
Coal bags just thrown on the ground. ”
One of the guys sighed. “Yeah. It’s everywhere these days.
”
“Man, this just makes me furious,” I said, shaking my head. “This is exactly why these spots keep getting shut down. Because a few idiots can’t pack out what they packed in. And then everyone else has to suffer for it.
”
“Yeah, it’s awful,” he agreed. I walked a few steps further, spotting more bits of trash scattered around. “I don’t get it. You bring it, you take it with you.
It’s not that hard. ”
Someone joked, “Maybe they’re like the carp in here. They just grab the bait and leave their mess behind. ”
“Yeah, exactly.
Like a toilet flush for the fish. ”
We all laughed, but I was still annoyed. —
We kept setting up camp. I pulled out the tent, checked the poles, and looked around for clean spots to place the chairs.
“Are we camping right here? ” one of the guys asked. “This is where we always set up,” I said. “Best view of the water.
You can see the fish jump from here. ”
I grabbed the mallet to hammer in the tent pegs and was about to drive one into the ground when a thought hit me. “Wait,” I said, pausing. “If these guys left all their stuff behind, who knows what else they forgot, right?
Maybe some of it is still usable. ”
I scanned the shoreline, already planning to pick up what I could and dispose of the rest properly. “Forget it,” someone said. “Look at that other spot back there.
There’s a whole chair and a bucket of stuff just sitting there. It’s like a campsite graveyard. ”
I glanced over. He was right.
Old chairs, a few more coal bags, random junk. It was a mess. “I’m sending photos of this to the people who run the fishing club,” I said quietly. “They need to know who’s leaving all this here.
They know I always send photos. They can figure out who was here last. ”
“Good,” the guy said. “Someone has to say something.
”
“This is how we lose access to these lakes,” I explained. “Because of people who can’t clean up after themselves. People are out here ruining it for everyone else. ”
—
We continued setting up, but my mood kept souring whenever I caught sight of the trash.
“I can fix small stuff,” I said, grabbing a pair of pliers. “But this is just pure disrespect. ”
“You know, I always clean up my own mess,” another guy said. “Even my cigarette butts.
I leave them on the ground during the day, but I pick them up before I go. It’s simple. ”
“Exactly. That’s all you have to do.
”
I sighed, looked out over the water, and thought about the spot I was standing on. Beautiful river. Great fishing. Few spots left where you were still allowed to fish without a ton of restrictions.
And yet, every weekend, someone came through and left their garbage behind like it was invisible. I shook my head and grabbed a garbage bag. Someone had to take responsibility. Before I started picking up, I glanced at the camera.
We were still live. “Alright,” I said into the microphone. “Let’s get this place tidy, and then we’ll talk about where we’re setting the lines. We have a whole weekend ahead of us.
”
But even as I said it, I couldn’t shake the feeling that this trash problem wasn’t going away anytime soon.
