Italian Recycle Man

This is Italian Recycle Man. He lives up our road. He is Italian. He is a firm believer in recycling. For example, his garden pots are washing machine drums, with hoses wrapped around them. His bike has baskets front and back that are covered in milk bottle tops, among other things. The baskets are really bread crates. His reflective cycling jacket bears the Royal Mail emblem and his cycle helmet is a builder's hard hat with a Petzl head torch at the front.

He is a Man of Routine. At 9am he is to be seen walking into town with his dad. He walks 10 paces in front of his dad, who pushes his wheelchair. He is only allowed to sit in it on the way home. At 10.30, he walks with the dog to get a newspaper from the other end of our road (He reads it as he walks back). At 2pm, he cycles in the same direction up the road - but I haven't (yet) followed him.

It turns out his early morning jaunt is into town. His father's chair is sitting in front of him, but the old man himself was nowhere to be seen. I walked past half an hour later and they were having coffee together.