My main mission of the morning was to take a huge builders' bag of plastic waste to the nearest council recycling centre at Blackstock Road, Gleadless. In refuse collection there has been an ongoing industrial dispute for months now - the upshot being that there is nowhere to deposit one's soft plastic waste apart from at one of the city's five recycling centres. By the way, we used to call them "dumps".
Late morning I arrived at Blackstock Road and the queue was not too bad. Ten minutes later with our waste plastic conscientiously deposited I was away. The ridiculousness of having to burn petrol (American: gas) to get to and from the recycling centre struck me as just another of life's absurdities.
Back home, Shirley had taken Phoebe by bus to a pop up fun park in the city centre. I made a mug of peppermint and liquorice tea to drink while I sat at our outdoor table consuming another two chapters of "The Tenant of Wildfell Hall" by Anne Bronte. In my youth, I would have struggled with the sometimes turgid language of this early Victorian novel but now I breeze through it. More than that, I bring a better sense of time and history to the reading. I am greatly enjoying it - partly because I was very much in the mood to take on a well-known novel from that era.
Over the telephone, I renewed my drug prescription for hypertension and those various pills will be ready for me at our local pharmacy tomorrow afternoon - free of charge because of our NHS. The oedema I was experiencing has almost disappeared since I have been off the amlodipine pills.
Early this evening I prepared a family meal of Lincolnshire sausages, jacket potatoes, fried onions and garden peas - followed by a bramble pie that I baked myself using brambles picked from the bottom of our garden. It was served with vegan ice cream.
There's a new series of the addictive "Mandy" by Diane Morgan on the BBC right now and this evening, after putting Phoebe to bed, Shirley and I watched two episodes, Both of us laughed several times. However, I am not sure how well this comedy programme would go down with an American audience. They would probably sit stony-faced in their dens wondering what the hell was going on.
There's always tomorrow and our Friday weather forecast is good. When Phoebe is gone I might well venture out somewhere for another long walk. But where? This question is usually fraught with dissatisfaction when you have walked just about every path within a twenty mile radius of home.
"We used to call them 'dumps.'"
ReplyDeleteWe used to call them "tips."
"Recycling centre" is all the go here now, too. Well, nothing can ever go nowhere, but most "recycling" is surely still to landfill.
You may well be right and all my conscientious efforts may turn out to have been in vain.
DeleteUse those same paths, but walk from the opposite end? I like peppermint tea and licorice tea, but I don't think I'd like them blended.
ReplyDeleteUntil two weeks ago I had never tried this combination but I am loving it.
Deletei was a latecomer to the "Mandy" party.... but i've seen quite a few episodes and they do make me laugh out loud.... don't think Dawn is very impressed.... perhaps i'll binge a few today for something different and light-hearted...... i imagine Diane Margan would make an interesting dinner party guest!!
ReplyDeleteAlthough Mandy Carter is just a persona, I imagine that there is a lot of the real Diane Morgan in her.
Deleteoh, and when you say "soft plastics" do you mean like plastic films and wrappers.... that sort of stuff we recycle at aldi, morrisons, and teso.... morrisons and tesco are easier than aldi cos you have to shove all the stuff through an annoying letterbox at aldi like the krypton factor
ReplyDeleteIn Sheffield the only plastics you are meant to put in your brown bins are milk containers and regular plastic bottles - along with cans and glass. All other plastics are known as "soft plastics" hereabouts though some of that plastic is not really soft.
Deleteyeah so all that "soft" stuff we recycle at the supermarkets...... aldi, tesco, morrisons all have soft plastic recycling
DeleteBehind our house (home to four different households) is a section dedicated to the bins. There is a brown bin for organic waste such as fruit and veg peelings etc., yellow bins for plastic waste, a blue one for glass, green ones for paper and black ones for everything else. These are collected regularly, and we pay dear money for that service. Of course we also have recycling centres, but for someone without a car they are inaccessible. Once or twice a year, we can order special collection of waste that doesn't fit in any of the bins, such as discarded small electric household items (irons, kettles etc.) or metal (dismantled bed frames and the like). Getting on top of the waste and recycling system in Germany is a proper science - nearly every town has a system slightly different from the others, and the refugee family in the attic flat of our house have not yet mastered it in spite of having been here for two years now.
ReplyDeletePlease pick up your phone again and renew the prescription for good weather! My sister and I will arrive in North Yorkshire on Monday night, and for the two weeks of our stay, we plan to go for walks and outings. We don't mind a bit of rain every now and then, and we aren't keen on 30C, but moderate summer temperatures and sunny days would be most welcome.
Your meal sounds lovely, especially the bramble pie with berries from your own garden.
Germany has always seemed to be ahead of the game with regard to recycling culture and arrangements. Glad to learn that you are coming over to Ripon again and I have sent a prayer to The Lord Almighty for plenty of good weather while you are in Yorkshire.
DeletePeppermint and liquorice tea? I hope you were joking. Sounds disgusting!
ReplyDeleteI watched about 6 minutes of the new "Mandy", thinking I had enjoyed it before but soon decided that bed and a book was a better idea.
It is NOT disgusting ma'am!
DeletePhoebe seems to be a very discerning young lady. Grandpas in dressing gowns are not pleasing to young eyes.
ReplyDelete...bit enticing to ladies in their late sixties I expect.
DeleteAs MC said, tips and dumps. While our rubbish is collected, including recycling, I at times take e-waste to the our 'tip' where it goes into a special bay to be recycled.
ReplyDeleteI'm afraid if that is the tea you offer guests, when I visit, I will decline.
If you dropped by, you would of course receive eucalyptus tea Andrew.
DeleteMy mother still calls the local recycling center "the dump." I am always looking for new places to walk and explore. Having Shirley helps me to get out there and discover new places. Ironically, I have to drive to these places to walk.
ReplyDeleteIn the western world a tremendous amount of fuel is spent on ferrying dogs to and from walking venues.
DeleteWalk the path in the opposite direction, to see it anew.
ReplyDeleteI am not crazy.
DeleteWe called them dumps but now they are recycling centers and we are a full recycling household. Plastic, cans, cardboard, paper, lawn debris etc.
ReplyDeleteThe authorities do not make recycling especially easy for us.
DeleteYou live in such a beautiful part of the world, another walk in the same place is still a lovely walk I'm sure. I assume brambles are blackberries, but they could be raspberries, not sure. My raspberries are just ripening now.
ReplyDeleteSome silly people do indeed call brambles blackberries. Lord knows why!
DeleteWhen we were in Athens, Georgia two nights ago, we noticed that the trash receptacles on the street were labeled "recyclables" and "landfill" which does indeed make you think.
ReplyDeleteAt least Athens is making the effort to discriminate. It is a start.
DeleteWell, I always say that I never found a path or hike that I wouldn't do again. It's just enjoyable too get out.
ReplyDeleteI like novelty for my photos. Not the same old routes.
DeleteI for one agree wholeheartedly with your choice of peppermint and liquorice tea, it's the only hot beverage that I drink every day. Sadly I'm only allowed two cups as the liquorice is bad for my blood pressure, but every now and then I sneak a third cup. It's lovely. 😀
ReplyDeletePerhaps we should start up an online peppermint and liquorice tea support group Cathy. I love it.
DeleteOh, Dave and I love "Mandy"! I didn't realize there's a new season. We'll begin watching right away!
ReplyDeleteIt's funny that Phoebe wants you dressed and presentable before you engage with her.
By "soft plastics" do you mean bags and cling film and that kind of thing? We can't recycle any of that as far as I know. It all goes in the rubbish. We can only recycle stiffer plastic containers. (And even then, I suspect it really all goes in the rubbish once it's left our hands.)
Nice to know that two gum-chewing Yanks appreciate "Mandy". In Sheffield, the council picks up plastic bottles and milk containers but householders have to deal with any other "soft plastic" they accumulate. Frankly, most people just put this in their general waste bins but I have not done that for many years.
DeleteMandy is an adorable watch
DeleteThere are four recycling bins within a very short walk from home. They are slightly smaller than the size of a small family car. One has a yellow top for plastics, the one for cardboard and paper is blue and the general household rubbish bin has a grey top. The one for glass only (not ceramics) is a large dome shaped affair and empty bottles make a resounding crash when dropped in!. We can also leave our bagged garden cuttings, except that most people just throw that down unbagged and it makes a real mess everywhere.The one for household rubbish is emptied daily by a huge truck which picks the bin up and tips the contents into the top the it's electrically incinerated as the truck drives along. On the dog walk I pass various places with similar bins but the ones near a holiday complex not only take household waste etc but old clothing, shoes, waste cooking oils (providing it's in a bottle) and small electric appliances. There is a collection centre in town which takes electrical items such as TV's, old computers, ovens and goodness knows what else!
ReplyDeleteJust in case you're wondering YP, I rarely use the one for glass as I'm not a drinker, so have no empties to get rid of!
There's nothing wrong with going on the same hike once again. Or, like Steve, you could walk around your town, taking in the local sites. Hey, I just picked up a book by Michael Palin yesterday and discovered that he is also a Sheffield native and proud of it.
ReplyDelete