What does Facebook think of the Summer so far? Rubbish!
Every year I pull out my Remembrance Day poppy from my bedside drawer, dust it down, and attach it to my lapel before heading out into the world.
The practice is not universally appreciated (particularly by those with Poppy Appeal collecting tins), I grant you, but then we recycling enthusiasts are used to criticism. Recycling does, however, come at a cost. I’m sure I’m not alone in missing the glorious sight of a rainbow of discarded plastic shopping bags festooning the trees. So colourful!
Even the simple youthful pleasure of kicking a can down the street is being denied by the recycling bin’s thirst for aluminium. Having moved in with The German, recycling has come to the fore. While we Brits are still coming to terms with the complexities of blue recycling wheelie bins (do they take old shoes?), the Germans have been at it since the Eighties. Even in her flat, she has four different rubbish containers. One for paper, one for plastic, plus another two for some other rubbish I haven’t quite worked out yet. So as not to disturb her litter system by placing the wrong rubbish in wrong receptacle, I hoard my rubbish under the bed and, when she’s out, bury it in the garden. Better safe than sorry.
I mention this because this week is officially National Recycling Week. To celebrate, I was going to recycle some old columns and take the week off, but instead decided to raid Facebook to recycle some comments. We asked this newspaper’s Facebook dabblers the question: What has been your favourite memory of this summer? Most responded with heartwarming comments on births, marriages and memories made during a remarkable few months. Others were not so amenable. Rather than let them wither on the electronic vine, I’ve recycled a handful to give you a peep into another world. Enjoy…
Ste Caddy: I remember this one time when, just for a laugh, I sat on a different chair in the house. Great days.
Daz Mart: Being grounded for the first time since I was 15!
Mike Courtney: That day the recycling bin was fairly easy to move. I think I'd had a week on boxes of wine instead of bottles of Benedictine.
Mark Kirkwood: Getting drunk a lot and eating bog roll and pasta sandwiches.
Alan Watson: Washing my hands, never realised how dirty my thumb gets.
Karen Capaldi: Finding flour!