Keep Cardiff Tidy - Working together for a cleaner cardiff

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LEE CECIL ON GRAFFITI REMOVAL

I drove with eager uncertainty on what graffiti training in Tir - y -Berth, somewhere just outside Caerphilly was going to be. I arrived at a yard with many dust cart trucks whizzing in and out of the depot and asked where's the graffiti training to which I received a stunned silence and a look of what the heck I am going on about.

As luck would have it the next chap I asked was also going on the same course. The next problem was finding a key to the room we were having the classroom bit in. However a key quickly arrived and soon I was in a room full of dustbin men and women. I'm not sure what the politically correct term is!

It was explained to us that all the cleaning fluids were friendly to the planet and consequently us. One bottle was for graffiti on a plastic surface or material another was for absorbent materials and surfaces.We learnt that graffiti was a criminal act not art. That was a big eye opener.

Whilst the educational bit was interesting. All I wanted to do what get out in the fresh air and start spraying everything that moved, or didn't for that matter.

Well, eventually the moment came when we rushed outside, well I did, really excited to start doing my bit for Keep Cardiff Tidy only to get told we could only spray the materials that were provided by the tutor. BIG disappointment.

However in turn we all had a little spray of - a brick them we cleaned it off. Wax on Wax off(from the film Karate Kid came to mind) then a piece of green metal. It wasn't green after I finished with it, more like a greeny red,with more red than green. Amazingly wet wipes get off much of the graffiti before you have to use the miracle bottles provided. I was well impressed.

Getting bolder I asked if I could spray that nice silver BMW, parked, far too close to our test area. Unsurprisingly the answer that came back was negative. A bit more than negative actually.

Then the icing on the cake. They gave us all a brand new tool kit full of lots of goodies to clean up Wales with. Fantastic.

Everywhere I drive my toolkit is in the boot and I'm on the look out for graffiti to clean.

Lee Cecil - Wales Representative, National Landlords Association