pumpkinstrokemarrow

Followed up by a visit to the Epsom dump. Just reversed the van back to the place where one chucks old mattresses - that was all I had to dispose of - when I was rather briskly informed that no vans whatsoever were allowed in this part of the dump and that I should go around the back. Freedom pass cut no ice at all so around the back. Onto the weighbridge where I had the challenging task of remembering the van registration mark between the back of the van and the little window in the weighbridge office. Took two trips. Plus I was told that driving license or rates demand was what was needed. Freedom pass, despite being issued by the borough with my picture on it, was not satisfactory evidence of my residence in the borough at all. (I learn later at TB that there is some agitation going on in the borough on this very point). However, I was let through, so onto the cavern. A rather intimidating place full of huge heaps of rubbish, visiting dust carts and a huge loader with a huge shovel scuttling backwards and forwards. One nudge and the hire van would have been well over its excess (£400 I think). However, all being carefully marshalled, dumped the mattress and escaped back onto the weighbridge unscathed. Incidentally confirming on the way the furniture dealer's story of 22th October that all commercial waste goes straight to landfill. None of this recycling nonsense for vans.

While waiting outside the cavern, the blue container mystery of 16th September was solved. It rather looks as if these interesting blue bins are what are used to bin our food waste. There were several of them lying about full of small full plastic bags. Food waste seemed quite a likely candidate, but I thought leaving a vehicle at the entry to the cavern might earn me penalty points so I desisted from checking at close quarters.

On the way to the March Barton dump the day before the day before it had seemed that the road signage and road marking crews had been slipping. Didn't seem to be as much of it about as usual. Maybe I didn't have a hangover. But I did come across two junior road signage maintenance engineers (third class, female) checking out one of those interesting posts saying things like 'M3 A 76.3'. The check appeared to be, in so far as one could tell at speed, checking that it was vertical with a large spirit level. Good to know that these important signs are being looked after so carefully.

Shortly after that amused to see one of those very efficient AA recovery vans, complete with car hauled up on its towing contraption and with its bonnet up. I suppose they have to break down from time to time but one might be a bit peeved if one was the punter. Although one could have a smoke, something which I assume is banned in the recovery vehicle itself, even supposing the driver did not mind, which he might well do these days.

On arrival in the regional capital, pleased to read about the new road crossing arrangements at Oxford Circus. It seems that they have actually dismantled the great array of cattle fences with which the circus used to be decorated and with which we used to be cattled or contained. Progress! We shall go and inspect this wonder of modern London as soon as is convenient. Maybe Boris is actually scoring a few hits.

I had been wondering, because he seems to generate a fair amount of newsprint and I would have thought that half a page of Evening Standard would take half a day from scratch. Does he write it all in the margins of his very busy mayoral schedule or does he simply hire a few clever wannabees to write it all for him? He probably gets a big postbag at all the papers he writes for containing more than enough material for them to spin his stuff off of. Boris just looks over the product and signs it off as his own? Rather in the way that small civil servants write letters for big civil servants and big civil servants write letters for ministers. I would have thought that any self-respecting journalist could fake Boris's hand well enough. And the clever wannabees can live in hope that this will lead to better things, as well it might.