Wash it and squash it, that’s what they say to do with your recycling. Makes sense, you can get more into your bin without having to stand on a step and standing in the bin to squash it all down.
At least two of my neighbours put bags out with their recycling bin every time, 2 sometimes 3 bags each; but as the bags are clear you can see that nothing is squashed or flattened, you’ve just got that where necessary it’s washed.
We recently stayed in an AirBnB in Shropshire where we were told that all recycling had to be washed and squashed or they wouldn’t take it and that if you were persistent they would fine you!
I know that once it goes into the back of the truck it gets squashed, but leaving bags out with your bin means that the collection crew have more things to pick up and the job takes longer.
No, not much, but if every road had 20 or 30 extras that would certainly add time to the round and maybe even stop you doing all of your route in the allotted time
and these days it’s doubtful that you would get paid for the extra time needed to finish, you would just be expected to work faster, something the non-squashers probably wouldn’t like if it was them!
So get Washing and Squashing!
A few weeks ago we had to take my mother in law to a garden centre and it wasn’t even a Bank Holiday. She had been given a gift token from a particular garden centre and wanted to buy some bedding plants and Lupins.
Funnily enough I travel past this garden centre every day on my way to work. Whilst there I took the opportunity to buy a couple of new Potato Growing Bags, as the ones that I have or should I say had, have just about had it.
The next week I bought a bag of seed potatoes and have left them out to sprout, ready for planting.
My walk-in growing frame has taken a bit of a battering over the winter and has developed a couple of holes, which of course let the rain in a little. This however has had its advantages, as I have a couple of pots in there with rhubarb in which I dug up from my Dad’s garden in the hope of growing in my own garden.
My wife is very much against actually planting it in the garden so a couple of tubs will be fine. I actually have two tubs in the garden and two in the growing frame; they are all coming along nicely and then my wife spotted that I’d planted one in the garden itself, she was not happy!
Next of course is to find the Vegetable box I bought last year and see if any of the contents, bulbs, seeds etc will be any good for this year. The strawberries took a hammering last year in my new ‘pallet frame’, made them easy pickings for the birds and hardly any have survived, I think a bit more netting is required.
I already have a netted frame over most of the other vegetables to try and keep the birds and squirrels away, this is fairly successful.
If we go to a garden centre on the next bank holiday, I don’t know why I say that as I know that we will, I think I might try and get another Cucumber plant and grow cucumbers again.
Been to Northern Ireland again, fourth time of going across, I went to Draperstown, and this time I went on my own!
Instead of going Birkenhead to Belfast and an 8 hour ferry crossing I had a long 6 and a half hour drive to Stranraer and then just a 2 hour ferry journey to Larne. Got to Stranraer in time to get a Full Scottish Breakfast in Morrisons and then it’s only a ten minute trip up the road to the ferry terminal.
P&O this time, not Stenna Line, and a daytime crossing so I stood out on deck to take in the views of Loch Ryan and the coast as we approached Larne. I didn’t have a full van load and the customer was there to assist in unloading, had a cup of tea and then headed back to Larne.
Obviously I went and found Inver Park, the home of Larne FC before heading to the Chip shop for my tea and back to the ferry terminal. Docked in Stranraer at 10 o’clock drove into town to find where I was staying; push button entry hotel with a very comfortable room and en-suite.
Made sure that I was up nice and early, in time to get another breakfast from Morrisons, before I started my long journey home. Yes I did go past the home of Stranraer FC, but it is on the other side of a park and it was raining so I couldn’t be bothered to park on the main road and walk; maybe if I go again I will make the effort!
Another year has gone by and we are now back into Bank holiday season. We’ve just had Easter and that was eventful. We went away again, same cottage as we went to last year, just outside Horncastle in Lincolnshire.
As we were travelling up the A1 just before lunch, ping, a stone hit the windscreen and chipped it, these things happen, can always get it repaired.
So, we have driven all the way to Lincolnshire, settled into our cottage and then just before tea, when we would normally go to the chip shop, my son and I got in the car to travel back again.
Months previously we had bought tickets to see the Buzzcocks in Bedford, not realising that it was Good Friday. So off we set, we were not a quarter of a mile down the road and Bang! A pheasant flew straight into the front of the car and wedged itself in the bottom grill, so we had to pull over and extract it from the grill and leave it by the roadside.
As it was a couple of hour’s journey, we decided that after the concert that we would go home and then get up early in the morning to travel back.
Travelled back, picked the others up and went to spend the day as usual in Lincoln. Steep Hill, lunch, sweets, record shops, bookshops, tea and a cake, more shops then back up Steep Hill and back to the cottage.
We went to the chip shop on Saturday evening instead. Sunday, half of us went to church the other half wandered the shops, we then went for lunch before wandering round Woodhall Spa and then Sunday evening three of us went to the Kinema in the Woods, as is our usual routine. We saw ‘Wicked little letters’ with Olivia Coleman and Timothy Spall amongst others.
Got up Monday to go home, massive crack across the windscreen, so much for getting the chip repaired, that’s a whole new windscreen then! Came home via Newark, found about 4 shops open! One was a second hand book shop another was an Oxfam bookshop, both very good. I now have about another six books to read!
They came and fitted a new windscreen on the Friday, had to pay the insurance excess and then started a new policy with another company the following Monday.