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Storm Eunice
Feb. 19th, 2022 06:12 pmI had several days to take before the end of our holiday year, so I was off work on Friday and I'd booked an eye test - which had been postponed from sometime in 2020. Was there a red weather warning for Berkshire? I wasn't really sure. Aware of the risk of fallen trees or branches, I set off early but was not inconvenienced. It was an opportunity to transfer some of our lockdown reading to the Oxfam bookshop and to deposit a couple of cheques that arrived a month ago, which were large enough not to trust a second time to the post. On the return journey I did encounter enough of a fallen tree to require traffic to pass in one direction at a time, but nothing worse.
On my return, it turned out that one of our recycling crates, plus the sack for plastics and cans, had gone astray. Bin day was recently changed to Fridays here, alas. While I was seeking in vain at one end of the street, I saw a neighbour deposit a crate by my green bin, but I was too far away to offer thanks. My next-door neighbour popped their head out of the front door to suggest which way things may have gone - I searched again, but to no avail, other than discovering a sack bearing a different house number, which it seemed only fair to return. I don't expect to recover ours now, and will be ordering a replacement from the council. When the current recycling arrangements were introduced they seemed cumbersome but sensible, but now I am not so sure. In particular having a crate for paper and a crate for glass, but a lightweight sack for cans and plastic bottles (and it is indeed for bottle-shaped items only), seems dubious. I recently deposited a large number of plastic items on my recent trip to the recycling centre, but I only went there because of a large load of garden waste. It's high time all plastic containers could be collected at the doorstep.
Once back into the house, I realised one of the fence panels in the back garden had blown over. It was joined by a second later in the afternoon, and two more are a bit precarious. I fear I shall be joining a long queue, but at least I felt the guy who replaced one panel (which is still standing) a couple of years ago did a good job, so I will be approaching him to do more work. Ownership of the fence is ambiguous - neither the plans nor the orientation offer much suggestion, which is only convention anyway - but I seem to have taken responsibility for it, and in any case I noticed this afternoon while tidying up that on the far side of next door's garden there is at least one more panel astray which will be for them to fix. I'm pondering whether to replace the whole line, but we'll see what the cost options are. At least we didn't lose power and at a glance there is no roof or other building damage.
On my return, it turned out that one of our recycling crates, plus the sack for plastics and cans, had gone astray. Bin day was recently changed to Fridays here, alas. While I was seeking in vain at one end of the street, I saw a neighbour deposit a crate by my green bin, but I was too far away to offer thanks. My next-door neighbour popped their head out of the front door to suggest which way things may have gone - I searched again, but to no avail, other than discovering a sack bearing a different house number, which it seemed only fair to return. I don't expect to recover ours now, and will be ordering a replacement from the council. When the current recycling arrangements were introduced they seemed cumbersome but sensible, but now I am not so sure. In particular having a crate for paper and a crate for glass, but a lightweight sack for cans and plastic bottles (and it is indeed for bottle-shaped items only), seems dubious. I recently deposited a large number of plastic items on my recent trip to the recycling centre, but I only went there because of a large load of garden waste. It's high time all plastic containers could be collected at the doorstep.
Once back into the house, I realised one of the fence panels in the back garden had blown over. It was joined by a second later in the afternoon, and two more are a bit precarious. I fear I shall be joining a long queue, but at least I felt the guy who replaced one panel (which is still standing) a couple of years ago did a good job, so I will be approaching him to do more work. Ownership of the fence is ambiguous - neither the plans nor the orientation offer much suggestion, which is only convention anyway - but I seem to have taken responsibility for it, and in any case I noticed this afternoon while tidying up that on the far side of next door's garden there is at least one more panel astray which will be for them to fix. I'm pondering whether to replace the whole line, but we'll see what the cost options are. At least we didn't lose power and at a glance there is no roof or other building damage.