The Big, the Bad and the Ugly

The big ugly black bins gracing our streets these days are the council's answer to the alternative of rubbish strewn around when seagulls and crows attacked the old plastic bags left out by householders for collection.
It's just such a pity they are so graceless and huge and subject to vandalism. They are routinely set on fire or otherwise damaged.
At least some Banksy wannabe has put a smile on this one standing at the junction of Middle Meadow Walk.

Whereas the black bins appear to be able to accept any rubbish, householders in residential streets with no tenement buildings are forced to separate their rubbish into different coloured bins which stand in their gardens like incongruous sentries beside manicured lawns and tidy paths.

Had we still be living in the castle, we would have had to house 3 tall bins, green, blue and brown plus a small one for food waste. In the Dower House, we are lucky that big bins are communally housed in their own inside space, although there is an element of separation needing to be done, but less so than at the old castle.

During the war years, our street had a large galvanised bin standing on the edge of the pavement into which people put waste food which it was said was fed to pigs. That may or may not have been true, but it was always referred to as the 'pigs' bin'.