Wednesday October 24th 2007. Today the lady who lives next door took out my empty bin. Why would anyone take out my empty bin? I am not asking her but I had to get it back in quickly before I was accused of using it. Before the waste disposal lorry comes tomorrow. She thought I had forgotten to put it out but did not think to look inside it. So is the curse of the bin. It would not occur to anyone that you just did not put out a bin. It is such a simple thing to do and yet when you tell people their mouths fall open literally and then the realisation that you must be utterly bonkers is on their faces one and all. Then a puzzled look appears and the eyebrows crinkle slightly. Sometime you then get a nervous laugh as though they are thinking of running but afraid to move in case they alarm me. I have to smile then and reach out to them to assure them I am pretty average, pretty normal, but do not put out a bin. Such is our indoctrination into supermarkets, packaging and waste that to think of not doing it is just anathema and a startling revelation to realise that it can actually be done. I know there are going to be times when I use a land fill site, such as when a piece of electrical equipment breaks down and has to be replaced. But this should not happen with the frequency that it does. We need good quality goods that will last and can be repaired. I looked at the newspaper yesterday and noticed how the Welsh Assembly Government is giving a couple of million pound prizes to foreign companies in a competition to come to Wales and set up. Imagine if that couple of million pounds was used to train a boot and shoe maker to make shoes that fitted welsh feet of all shapes and sizes at a fair price and people would come from all over to buy these shoes that last. I hate it, just when I have broken a pair of shoes in and they are the most comfortable shoes in my life they fall apart and I have to start all over again. The shoe maker could then employ staff and train apprentices and when the shoemaker went to buy himself a new suit he could find a tailor in his town who could do for the shoemakers body what he did for the tailors feet. The farmers in the fields around us would grow our crops and raise our meat and we would all thrive. Utopia people say. I answer them – Better than playing with Mickey Mouse money that has no substance. If I cannot see it then it does not exist is a good motto with money. Anyhow my bin is empty and I am loving this.
