Nice People Thread Number 10 -the official residence of Nice People

michaels

We have 2 wheelie bins and 3 different crates, I understand the black one which is general rubbish and you can put whatever you like in - unfortunately it is only emptied every other week so we also have to make some sort of attempt with the other bins. When the green wheelie bin took cardboard as well as compostibles it was ideal but now it is a bit of a nightmare.

Today we have2 friends coming to play so I am:
a) hoping it dries up enough for a walk to the park to tire them out a bit
b) thinking may be being at work isn't that bad after all

Germany may not have a structural deficit now but her demographics are extremely troubling.

zagubov

A bit rainy but not too bad here today.

Supposed to go into the city centre for shopping and cinema.

Looked out the front window and the road into town is mobbed .

Went to an out of town retail park instead. Giving the city centre the body-swerve for today and go to the cinema over in another part of town.

Can't stand traffic jams or queuing for parking spaces.:(

Generali

We get 3 bins: recycling, rubbish and green.

Rubbish goes every week and the other 2 on alternate weeks.

There is an Aussie tradition known as the 'bin run'. If you have a lot of rubbish you go round the neighbour's bins at dusk topping them up.

We are not allowed to tip the bin men. A slab of beer (24 bottles) used to be the norm though.

On top of that we get 2-4 times a year 'council clear up' where you stick you old junk out on the kerbside. The council chuck it out for you however if anyone spots something of value before the council comes round they'll reuse or recycle it. TVs get stripped of their cords for the copper, bikes etc are taken to be done up and sold. I have a large cupboard with drawers in my garage which provides very helpful storage that I picked up from the kerb. The kids had a plastic playground thing for a while that we picked up too.

zagubov

Generali wrote: »

We get 3 bins: recycling, rubbish and green.

Rubbish goes every week and the other 2 on alternate weeks.

There is an Aussie tradition known as the 'bin run'. If you have a lot of rubbish you go round the neighbour's bins at dusk topping them up.

We are not allowed to tip the bin men. A slab of beer (24 bottles) used to be the norm though.

On top of that we get 2-4 times a year 'council clear up' where you stick you old junk out on the kerbside. The council chuck it out for you however if anyone spots something of value before the council comes round they'll reuse or recycle it. TVs get stripped of their cords for the copper, bikes etc are taken to be done up and sold. I have a large cupboard with drawers in my garage which provides very helpful storage that I picked up from the kerb. The kids had a plastic playground thing for a while that we picked up too.

They have a system like that in some parts fo Europe well, Essen, and parts of the Netherlands and presumably other areas). Do they have freecycle in Aus?

Generali

zagubov wrote: »

They have a system like that in some parts fo Europe well, Essen, and parts of the Netherlands and presumably other areas). Do they have freecycle in Aus?

We do although it's pretty hopeless. People put actual rubbish on there rather than stuff that's no use to them any longer.

If it has value it'll either go on ebay or be given away to a mate at work's SiL's cousin who needs a fridge and is a bit broke right now.

silvercar

There is an Aussie tradition known as the 'bin run'. If you have a lot of rubbish you go round the neighbour's bins at dusk topping them up.

Wars have started over less.

In the old place one neighbour tried that and was caught. The recipient of his unwanted rubbish ceremoniously tipped the whole contents of the donor's rubbish bags in the centre of donor's front lawn, ripped the bags open and walked away. Apparently he had also caught the offensive neighbour using his (in-out) drive as a turning circle.

lostinrates

silvercar wrote: »

Wars have started over less.

In the old place one neighbour tried that and was caught. The recipient of his unwanted rubbish ceremoniously tipped the whole contents of the donor's rubbish bags in the centre of donor's front lawn, ripped the bags open and walked away. Apparently he had also caught the offensive neighbour using his (in-out) drive as a turning circle.

Its a weird thing.....protectiveness over the turning circle.

I particularly brittle over 'no turning' signs, because I find it difficult to believe people would be so rude as to stop people using the space if they were asked.

I am actually quite happy for people to PARK in my driveway when I am asked first and its used for the local run and cycle race as a stewards place for what ever it is stewards do. And water.....


But, even so, I do bristle slightly when people turn or hover there WITHOUT asking......it cannot be helped I think, its a defensive reaction. When peoe leave cars there without asking I leave a note on the windscreen explaining its not a public space (historically its reasonable to presume there was confusion) and asking them to ask at the house before doing so again. My fence is INSIDE my property, so technically no one should park on the road side of it, but if they did I'd laugh. And be pleased because it would slow traffic.

On a couple of occasions I have suggested people move into my driveway (breakdowns/ tearful phone calls) to avoid other road users and give them space.

The day I put a no turning sign up is, i think, the day I can no longer look myself in the mirror. I can cope with being twitchy about it, but I'd rather people turned than didn't, and rather be the sort of person who restrains their twit chinese over it than one who gives tin to it.

I'd rather not give a damn m but I cannot quite get there. .


One of my resolutions made, not at new year i think but through the last year was to be more ok with being a fraught perfectionist, but I do't know whether that makes me less fraught and perfectionist.....so what is there to be ok with? its all very confusing.

Anyway.....with everything around my feet ATM I don't think much perfection exists at all :rotfl:

PasturesNew

I'm always bemused when I am in a lane that gets narrower and narrower, so the bushes are brushing the car on either side and suddenly ...... there's only a driveway and two signs "Private Property" - fair do's, it's their garden.... and "No Turning"..... as if, at that point, I've a choice. If they'd put a sign up earlier saying "Dead End, No Turning" I'd have not found myself there.

LydiaJ

We have been away since Boxing Day, and are now home. It is nice to be somewhere warm again.

neverdespairgirl wrote: »

There's a lot to be said for Islington's system. No bins to worry about, and only two catagories of stuff, and it's all collected from the same place at the same time.

The system you describe - where everyone in the block takes their bags to the huge bins and they're emptied daily - is excellent in your context, but it is only really sensible where the population density is very high. If I had to cart all my rubbish to some communal bins that served lots of households, it would mean taking them some distance in the rain, and I'd rather my rubbish was collected from my actual property. I don't need it to be collected daily.

We have a food caddy - a small one in the kitchen that gets emptied into a bigger one that goes out to the roadside to be collected weekly. We also have a recycling box that takes paper, cardboard, glass jars/bottles, plastic bottles, tins (ie steel ones) and cans (ie aluminium ones). It's collected fortnightly, alternating with the wheelie bin for all other kinds of rubbish. I also have a box where I collect waterproof cardboard of the type that juice cartons are made from, because we can recycle those in bins at any of the supermarket car parks, and a sack in which I put things that my dad's council will recycle from the kerbside even though mine won't - plastic pots and packaging, foil containers (like pie dishes) and batteries (which I could take to the supermarket but never remember to). We give him the sack of stuff whenever we visit him or he comes here.

SingleSue wrote: »

Long day yesterday as we took James back to uni, traffic was a nightmare and my back, after days of abuse since my wheelchair broke, was equally bad. Mind you, at least it gave me and lovverrr a chance to have some time to ourselves, albeit in a traffic jam on the M25, the only chance we have had during the school holidays.

Hope James has another good term, and that you and loverrr get some more time to yourselves soon.

CKhalvashi

Generali wrote: »

We get 3 bins: recycling, rubbish and green.

Rubbish goes every week and the other 2 on alternate weeks.

There is an Aussie tradition known as the 'bin run'. If you have a lot of rubbish you go round the neighbour's bins at dusk topping them up.

We are not allowed to tip the bin men. A slab of beer (24 bottles) used to be the norm though.

On top of that we get 2-4 times a year 'council clear up' where you stick you old junk out on the kerbside. The council chuck it out for you however if anyone spots something of value before the council comes round they'll reuse or recycle it. TVs get stripped of their cords for the copper, bikes etc are taken to be done up and sold. I have a large cupboard with drawers in my garage which provides very helpful storage that I picked up from the kerb. The kids had a plastic playground thing for a while that we picked up too.

Christ, you have it lucky!

Someone was moaning about the Georgian system of communal bins yesterday, emptied once every 2 weeks. The upside to this (whilst our apartment is on the 9th floor, and I hate it) is that the cost is 2 lari/month.

michaels wrote: »

We have 2 wheelie bins and 3 different crates, I understand the black one which is general rubbish and you can put whatever you like in - unfortunately it is only emptied every other week so we also have to make some sort of attempt with the other bins. When the green wheelie bin took cardboard as well as compostibles it was ideal but now it is a bit of a nightmare.

We had 2 bins and 2 crates, and I much prefer this to the new system of 3 bins.

One has compost (about 1 'green' bag every 2 weeks), one has general rubbish, and one has cardboard/plastics/glass.

I get woken at 7am on my only day off each week (Wednesday), which was changed from Tuesday with the new bins.

CK