Any Old Iron? Not in this 'ere bagThe environmental hygienists, aka the bin men (no sexual stereotyping intended) have struck in Kirk Lane, Hutton. Not 'struck' as in a Grangemouth 'industrial action' i.e. industrial inaction but in the sense of suddenly and unexpectedly imposing the rules on Sandy McCitizen with regard to what they will deign to remove and convey to the dump-either hereabouts or on the outskirts of Beijing. One black bin was left unemptied and a printed notice attached drawing attention to rule 234, Stipulation 7, Condition 23 b in that the weeks non recyclable rubbish ration must be confined to a single wheelie bin (closed tightly) and there must not be any extra bags placed in or near the vicinity of the said bin. Oddly they had on this occasion taken the extra bags...
Not All Rubbish, ApparentlyThe Environmental Hygienists aka the Bin Men are becoming more picky with regard to what they remove from the 'kerbside' on their weekly swoop on rural communities. Although you can recycle (at last) most non food things including the ubiquitous plastic bag (as long as it is not a black bin bag) the pre removal inspection has seemingly become more searching. Last week, at the bottom of Kirk Lane which services 5 houses and the village hall several bags were not removed and tossed contemptuously aside-fair enough within the letter of the law they were black bin bags and should have been inside the appropriate wheelie bin receptacle but you might have thought it would not have been too much trouble to flick them into No1 Lorry with the rest of the non recyclables....
Boxing Day in L'Etang la Ville is rather like Boxing Day anywhere else. Its grey. The cold sunny weather has been replaced by a frigid Gallic Dreich. Some shops open, others firmly closed and a bitter blow this, La Maison Des Journaux is open, but the nouveau Guardian n'est pas arrive.'Peut etre cette apres midi, Monsieur-vous preferez le Herald Tribune?' 'Monsieur did not and the long uphill trek home, emtpy handed. Only les hygiénistes environnemental lifted my spirits. Today is recycling bin day. All kinds of stuff are removed to be recycled and sent off to provide raw material for the French arms industry. Unlike Hutton glass goes as well. But the quality control at point of collection is ruthless. As I passed a bin under scrutiny a rummaging homme de refuse pulled out a collection...
