apparently the correct, woke, word/description is “recycling centre”. That’s not a sudden realisation, obviously, I am reasonably up-to-date about modern developments, it’s just that I can’t get out of the tip habit.

The tip is located in Llandod and like most tips I suspect, it is run by people who seem to go out of their way to make dumping rubbish (there must be a more woke description) more difficult every trip – new rules, “didn’t you know?”, “that goes over there, can’t you read?”. Normally, it is a rush to get in, rush to park, pressure is on to vacate the area as quickly as possible, the place if full of cars parked badly and people hiding what they are dumping and sneaking things into the most convenient container rather than the correct one – all the while keeping an eye on Hitler who tries to police the tip. So, in short, I am not looking forward to clearing out Joan’s garage a bit, and then taking the residue to the dumping place. So, to the website to check a) is it open?, b) when is it open?, c) what is the new rule of which I should be aware? Answer, open on Wednesday at nine, no rules, no problem.

Thought I would arrive at nine-thirty, to give the rush time to dissipate, but rain threatened, so it was nine as the trailer appeared – to find a queue of twelve or so other dumpers. Hey ho, switch off in more ways than one and wait. No mention of this on the website, but to be fair, it churned fairly quickly so I appeared at the head of the queue for the choke control to be aware of my presence. He was on his phone for all of this time, and multi-tasking as he was operating a barrier at the same time. He eyed the trailer with fearful suspicion and his arm waved and he walked off to consult. His consultant walked fifty yards to the Jeep and was about to launch into:

“you can’t bring that in ‘ere mate”, but I thwarted him with the appropriate permit! “Gotchya”.

No, apparently it was an older version, which was followed up with:

“you’ve got an awful lot there mate, too much as you’ve got a ten-minute slot, so we’ll move you on and you go the back of the queue again!”.

I navigated to the wood skip/dumpster/large container as the dismantled wardrobes were the main rubbish. The main man then appeared – one with whom I have clashed with before as he tries to assert his authority, and to deal with your aggression or fustration before you have chance to vent it. I have learned with him that if you’re nice to him and treat him as a person, he is so wrong-footed and he is a little pussy cat! Object lesson in life!

He re-emphasised the go-around threat, but I just got on quietly and emptied the trailer. Overall experience? One of those Covid things that mean operators re-think what and how they do it, and the result is actually less stressful, more sensible and more efficient than the old ways of doing it. Enjoyable!