On a visit to the convenience store this week, I was browsing next to 2 women who had just found out that they were both from the U.S., one from Tennessee and the other from Ohio! Of course, I wasn't able to let this go without butting in to the conversation, telling them I was from Maine. None of us had American accents though, for very different reasons. What a coincidence to find 3 Americans in this tucked away, tiny town in Wales!
Our local SPAR convenience store
Many towns have stores like these with a tiny, cramped post office counter as well, which do extra transactions such as accepting Amazon returns, doing banking transactions, and buying stamps. We've had to use these facilities a few times already, one being to buy a money order and return postage for applying for our U.K Drivers Licences (we're submitting our South African ones for conversion, instead of having to take the entire theory and road test from scratch). I hope they accept them!
People we encounter keep reminding us that Wales is very 'green' (into recycling in a big way). Food waste and 3 categories of recycling (paper, plastics, glass, each associated with a particular coloured skip) are collected from our lane every week. Yard clippings and cuttings can be collected every 2 weeks if you pay extra, and everything has to fit in with the lid closed. Invasives such as Japanese knotweed and ragwort may not be disposed of in this way. General trash is collected once every 3 weeks (strictly one bin only), the argument seemingly being that after all the other frequent collections, there shouldn't be anything smelly or large to fill up a bin more often than that.
This sketch outlines the different kinds of pick-up (it doesn't include yard cuttings since that is an optional extra)
I'm very disappointed though, to learn that the filmy plastic over most food products can only be 'recycled' through a big store. It turns out that trackers in these drop off sites show that the products are not recycled, but are actually burned instead. What a farce.
An example of the kinds of packaging that can't be recycled at the kerb
The contractor working on our solar panel installation has very kindly lent Dale his 'seconds' tool bag to use until our tools arrive in the container, probably around mid-June. What a thoughtful and generous gesture. Amazing.
