How's your day?

[Brew 5,405]

What made me cross about the council is the sheer arrogance, "we don't knock on doors"! if the tenant stopped paying tax I bet they'd soon be round.

I've borrowed a van and swapped the broken one for mine so now I have a broken bin on the drive and a repeat performance with the council and the broken bin tango...  

[philmayfield 6,115]

In the time honoured way just leave the broken bin on the town hall steps. You’re only retuning what is rightfully theirs.

[Jill Sparrow 10,304]

A few years ago, my recycle bin disappeared after being emptied. I searched everywhere, asked the neighbours: no one had seen it. My house number was clearly displayed on it. I assumed it might have been damaged while being emptied (as sometimes happens) so, after a week, I emailed the council and told them my bin had vanished. They said they would replace it. It will take weeks, thought I, but I was wrong. When I returned from work the following day, a spanking brand new bin stood on my drive.  I emailed the council to commend them on their efficiency. Credit where it's due.

 

On returning from work the following day, my prodigal recycle bin was on my drive. It looked fit and healthy, none the worse for its adventures and very tight lidded about where it had been for nine days.  Again, I emailed the council and told them my bin had come home, so I wouldn't need the replacement. That's alright. Keep it with our compliments, was the reply!  So now I have two.  No. It wasn't Amber Valley.

[philmayfield 6,115]

It reminds me of the dustman who went to a Chinese restaurant and said to the owner ‘where’s your wheelie bin?’. He replied ‘l’s bin to Hong Kong’. ‘No’ he said, ‘where’s your bin, your wheelie bin?’ The owner said ‘I’s wheelie bin to Hong Kong!’

[Jill Sparrow 10,304]

I think that's known as a clap joke! 

[DJ360 6,721]

5 hours ago, plantfit said:

Councils don't want to do anything these days for the customer, what they don't seem to be able to grasp is WE pay their wages so really WE are their employers, bring back the old days when the bin men would fetch the bin from your garden and take it back again I say

 

Rog

 

I'm not here to excuse genuine failures on the part of Local Authorities. Jim's bin fiasco seems like sheer ignorance, probably on the part of some 'Officer', rather than the whole council. Such idiots exist everywhere and not just in local authorities...

But.. if we are looking for an possible explanation for  perceived council failings....

 

https://fullfact.org/economy/local-authorities-budgets/

 

From which:

 

Quote

 

Local councils in England have seen an average cut to their budgets of almost 26% since 2010, taking inflation into account, according to the Institute for Fiscal Studies.

The part of that that comes from central government—mainly through grants—has fallen by 38% over the same period, closer to Mr Corbyn’s figure. The final reduction is 26% because they also raise money locally, which didn’t fall by as much.

 

 

The above is not including the additional responsibilities dumped onto local councils since 2010.

[DJ360 6,721]

Our Local Council is Labour controlled and it's often said by moaners that you could put a red rosette on a donkey and it would get elected in St Helens.

And yet, when Mrs Col (OC/IC Bins in this house) missed the collection a year or so back, and called the Council in a panic.. (She gets very worried about bins), they sent a couple of lads round with a little truck, who took away the rubbish with a smile.

Until recently, the council would collect 'bulky rubbish', such as old mattresses, furniture etc.. for free.  These days they make a small charge, but it's worth it. They issue a date, and turn up reliably. There's also the option to take stuff to the recycling centre if you wish.

We have a total of six  'bins'. Brown wheelie for general waste, Green wheelie for garden waste, small Grey bin for food waste, Pink bag for plastics and cans, Black box for cardboard and glass and a Blue bag for paper. Brown and Green wheelies are collected on alternate weeks.. everything else is collected weekly.

If any one of those disappears, or becomes unserviceable, one phone call, or even an online request, will see them replaced within a week or so.

I have no complaints.

[Jill Sparrow 10,304]

Crikey I'm not surprised Mrs Col worries about bins with that lot to organise. We only have three: general rubbish, garden waste and glass/cardboard/tins, etc. General rubbish goes out one week and the other two the next week. There are folk round here who can't get it right, even though we are provided with a technicolour, laminated timetable for the year. How they'd cope with six goodness alone knows. 

[DJ360 6,721]

I may have misrepresented Mrs Col slightly.  She doesn't have to organise anything.. it's just that she is obsessive about re-cycling and goes into a decline if so much as a milk bottle cap goes into the general waste... for e.g.

 

She keeps 'dud' batteries, because they quite rightly should be properly recycled, and insists she will take them somewhere.. but she continually forgets to take them anywhere, so they start to become clutter in the house.

 

She drove around for years with a big bag of spent printer cartridges in her car boot.. insisting they needed to be taken for re-cycling.. God only knows how much petrol she burned saving the planet from dead printer cartridges... or what she eventualy did with them.

 

As it is, she takes it upon herself usually to put bins out on a Sunday night, in preparation for our collection on Mondays.

I usually bring the 'empties' back in. Also, my first, self appointed task on any given morning, is to take out any stuff which has accumulated indoors and put it in the correct bin(s). I'm also the one who rinses and puts out empty milk bottles, whereas she will just leave them in the kitchen sink, full of water, presumably in the hope that they'll take themselves to the front door step.

 

It's a good job I'm perfect.

[Jill Sparrow 10,304]

I am a list writer. I am accompanied everywhere by a pad of post it notes. I jot down what needs to be done tomorrow the night before and then collect the appropriate materials together so that they're ready and waiting. When I've accomplished the task, I cross it out. Any not accomplished are at the top of the next day's list. Simples! I'm perfect, too  I'm told I probably also have Asperger's... maybe but I'm not putting his bins out as well.

[katyjay 5,090]

I am very thankful for our  sanitation company, and Del Webb, the builder of this area. He had the forethought of putting trash cans in the ground.  The trash men RUN with a large wheelie bin from driveway to driveway, flip the metal lid, pull out the dustbin and empty into the wheelie. Put bin back in hole and flip the lid back. Run to the next driveway.  Meanwhile, one of the crew moves the truck up, then gets a wheelie and joins the gang. They come twice a week for regular trash. They will take up to 14 bags of garden waste at no charge, although it is rarely put out, most folks have a landscaper every couple of months and they take the waste with them. We keep a recyle bin in the garage and put it out for collection twice a month. everything in one bin. The trash company is private, have about 50 trucks and service a huge area around here.

[plantfit 7,577]

4 hours ago, Brew said:

What made me cross about the council is the sheer arrogance, "we don't knock on doors"! if the tenant stopped paying tax I bet they'd soon be round.

I've borrowed a van and swapped the broken one for mine so now I have a broken bin on the drive and a repeat performance with the council and the broken bin tango...  

That's the word I was looking for "Arrogance" yes the people on the other end of the phone are just that, they give you the impression THEY are doing YOU a favour yet in reality they are just carrying out the instructions an employer has given them, (bloody jobsworths)

 

Rog

[Brew 5,405]

The systems of Kate and DJ sound bit complicated for what is at the end of the day a simple task. but at least they seem to work. Thankfully Chez Brew lost its greenery many moons ago which saves me £47 for a garden waste bin

[DJ360 6,721]

Yes, I omitted to mention that St Helens now make a charge for emptying Green bins. It's around £30 ish I think and they only empty from Spring to Autumn, with a gap for winter. I originally didn't bother as I composted most of my waste, but these days.. to quote Waynetta Slob.. " I cannot be ***ed".

Some neighbours share a Green Bin to halve the cost.

They have some sort of big rotating Green Waste wagon now,, Not sure exactly its purpose. General waste goes into an old style 'compactor' type wagon and the recycling stuff gets sorted on collection, into a wagon with several different 'hoppers'.

They also don't vary their collection dates to cope with Bank Hols.. they just work through them.

[IAN FINN 807]

I wear the same thing under my hard hat in winter its called a block heater.

[nonnaB 4,894]

We don’t have wheelie bins, we have plastic bags.White /grey for plastic, yellow for those with babies for nappies and green ones for non recyclables. Sorry we do have a bin a big yellow one for paper. The bin and bags are collected outside the house every 2 weeks.As we live outside the village centre they are collected on alternate weeks whereas in the centre it’s every week and in the summer twice a week. Food waste we keep until bag is full and it’s taken to my daughters or sons restaurant to be collected along with their kitchen waste. We did have a huge compost bin but saw rats around it so we got rid of it . The council gave us permission to take it to the local sports centre bin but we found taking it to our Daughter and Sons restaurants it works better and we don’t have it hanging around especially in this weather. Bottles are taken to bottle bins and there are also old clothes bins . So everything has its place. Old furniture is also taken away pronto for a small charge.

[Beekay 5,134]

I still can't help thinking, that wherever you live, they've now got you doing the job for them. One time of day people were employed to do the sorting etc. Nowadays you are expected to put different things in their appropriate recepticals, so all they have to do is collect as and when. When we first started to recycle, we were all doing it properly, until come collection day and we saw the guys empty everything into the same truck, with only one compartment !

We only have two bins in each block. One for rubbish the other for all recycling. Seems to be working ok.

[MRS B 511]

6 hours ago, Jill Sparrow said:

I am a list writer. I am accompanied everywhere by a pad of post it notes. I jot down what needs to be done tomorrow the night before and then collect the appropriate materials together so that they're ready and waiting. When I've accomplished the task, I cross it out. Any not accomplished are at the top of the next day's list. Simples! I'm perfect, too  I'm told I probably also have Asperger's... maybe but I'm not putting his bins out as well.

Jill, this is exactly what I do! Not on post it notes though, on a jotter pad, it’s called being organised. Think it is a bit of a woman’s trait though. 

[Jill Sparrow 10,304]

It certainly is, Mrs B. 

[plantfit 7,577]

Showers on and off today so no bike riding but did get a bit of work done in the shed, helped Mrs P with a spot of house cleaning and had a walk to Bassingham  (next village) to the shop for some milk and butter, watched half a DVD in the shed "Cab ride from Marseille to Paris on a TGV set, speeds upto 320Kph, cooked dinner for us and washed the pots, now time for a shower and a sit down in front of the telly for a time before Mrs P's eye drops need to be administered again, four times a day for four weeks poor lass but it's better than her getting an eye  infection, anyway hope you've all had a great day

 

Rog

[Beekay 5,134]

"Carry On Nurse", your doing a splendid job Rog.

Take 10 house points.

[plantfit 7,577]

She's doing ok, don't like the eye drops but the alternative would be worse

 

Rog

 

[Jill Sparrow 10,304]

From memory, when my mother had cataract surgery, one lot of drops sting quite badly. Fortunately, they were the ones that are only used for a few days and are then discontinued. The others don't cause any discomfort.

[plantfit 7,577]

She got two small bottles of these drops, four times a day for four weeks, she does say they sting like you say Jill and i do feel for her but the discomfort only lasts a few seconds, I have found though If I hold the small bottle in my hand for about fifteen minutes before use it does warm the contents slightly so the drops aren't so much of a shock when they meet with her eye, i don't know whether that helps or just a psychological effect

 

Rog

[MargieH 7,599]

I have eye drops put in my eyes every time I go the hospital eye clinic - every 1 - 2 months.  The drops are atropine to dilate my pupils and they do sting unless you ask for some numbing drops first!   Some of the nurses do put the numbing drops in automatically but some don’t - a cost cutting exercise perhaps?

I always come out of the clinic looking like  a ‘little  black-eyed Susie’. It is supposed to look attractive having dilated pupils (I’ve read) as when a person  looks at someone they fancy, their pupils naturally dilate !!!!  Don’t know if that’s true  

….. or perhaps people think I’m on non -prescription drugs !