A bin for this and a bin for that

REMEMBER when your kitchen scraps, empty tins and old newspapers were all dumped outside in a dustbin? Well those days are long gone.

Now we’ve got wheelie bins for this, boxes for that and caddies for the other… well not exactly because householders will now have to go back to school to swat up on the latest recycling changes.

These include various bin switches with new ones coming in and old ones being given a new purpose. Some are being phased out altogether.

It can be a real source of worry for some people, frightened that they’ll miss a collection date or that they’ll put some rubbish item in the wrong receptacle and, if you’ll pardon the pun, get their collection refused!

And there’s no guarantee that bin changes might not happen again as the recycling service tries to refine itself even further. So what other changes might we look forward to?

Well there could be a special wheelie bin with a slit in the top. This will enable postmen delivering junk mail to simply put it straight in the bin, saving valuable time for householders.

It will also help people avoid those painful paper cuts caused by angrily ripping open legions of envelopes marked “Urgent!” only to find you’re being offered an annual subscription to Readers’ Digest for 52 easy payments of an arm and a leg or free life insurance which turns out to cost another arm and a leg.

Then there could be a wheelie bin specifically for use just during the month of April. This will be provided so householders have somewhere to put all the leaflets posted through letterboxes by local politicians trying to get elected to the council.

Finally there could be the dayglow orange caddy with special clips to fix it to your wall or gate.

This isn’t actually for you but for the people to use who view your front garden as an ideal dumping ground for their rubbish. Not sure whether this one will catch on.

Your money is no good here

FOR all of us familiar with the use of money, watch out when you go on a London bus because cash may be refused.

Apparently one Weymouth couple tried to pay for a bus ride in the capital with money and were given short shrift by the bus driver who said only Oyster cards were valid.

They tried to argue their case but to no avail with the bus driver standing firm, so the couple decided to strike a blow for sanity and they opted to walk to where they wanted to go instead.

And the reason behind the cash refusal? It seems that people using Oyster cards can be taken on board quicker than those who pay the fare with coins.

Sounds like “a good idea” that Boris Johnson might have had a hand in!

Sweet smelling drains

WEYMOUTH and Portland gardens have just won several awards for their beautiful green and floral displays… and their drains aren’t doing too badly either!

I was recently chatting near Town Bridge when I happened to look down and see the drain near where I was stood was absolutely packed with growth.

It was easy to identify a tiny buddleia shrub growing up from the depths in search of light, but with it were a form of cultivated daisy and a number of other floral offerings.

If Weymouth’s excellent parks department is now turning its attention to beautifying our drains then it can only be a matter of time before council gardeners win an RHS award… that’s Richly Habitated Sewers of course!

Crows like food on the go

FAST food containers are posing a problem for seafront pedestrians… because they’re landing on people’s heads!

The bombardment is being carried out by crows, recognised as one of the more intelligent members of the bird world.

They have worked out that they can’t batter their way through a mussel shell but, if they fly up and drop it from height on to a hard surface, they can then fly down and enjoy the tasty food inside the shattered shell.

I nearly jumped out of my skin when one shell landed near me the other day but I kept quiet, stayed still and a crow was soon alighting and pecking hungrily at the shell’s contents.

Over the next ten to 15 minutes I saw this action repeated at least half a dozen times with varied success, shells smacking down on the Esplanade but also on the roofs of shelters, cars and on one man’s head. His baseball cap spared him from injury but it certainly startled him!

It just shows how versatile these creatures are. They’ll forage for just about anything and if leftover seafront food isn’t on the menu then a shoreline snack will do just as well.

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