Return: Garbage Saga

The New Times continues to publish the diaries of the famous journalist Masha Slonim, who went into exile for the second time*In the evenings, I empty my pockets of cigarette butts. Not because I keep them to finish smoking later, it hasn't come to that yet, although cigarettes are terribly expensive here. No, I collect cigarette butts during the day so I don't throw them on the ground or on the pavement where there are no bins. I don’t quit not because now in England they can be fined for it, I just don’t want to violate cleanliness. The next question is what kind of garbage to identify cigarette butts. I have three options: waste for recycling, where glass bottles, plastic milk containers and unwanted flyers go; biological waste, food leftovers, etc., which are apparently taken to compost; general rubbish, where you can put everything that is not included in the previous two categories. Cigarette butts fly into the general trash. For all these tanks, huge cars come once a week and take it all away in an unknown direction. For all this, as well as for many other things, I pay a lot of money, Council Tax. In my area it is more than ?2 thousand per year, but I, as a living one (dogs and cats do not count), were knocked off 25%! Caring huge cars cannot take away all the garbage that has accumulated in my garage as a result of the move - cardboard boxes and smelly rugs, with which the previous owner lined the space around the house so that her dogs would not prick their paws on hard gravel, demanded reprisal! And I, having folded and packed it all into my car, went to the nearest Waste Recycling Center. It may sound boring, but it's actually a very fun backyard! People busily and cheerfully scurry from container to container - for plastic, for metal, for unusable rags, for rags that are quite suitable, for electrical appliances ... A warehouse of old stoves and other household items that can still be used, old exercise bikes, children's bicycles, a container for garden waste, grass, cut branches, bushes. When you don't know where to take your rubbish, like I did with my stinky rugs that didn't fit into any category, they are taken from you by a Center worker and taken to the correct container for stinky rugs. And in the corner of the yard there is a shed where, having got rid of unnecessary rubbish, you can choose the one you need - books, furniture, pictures, kitchen utensils. You will not find first editions and antiques there, but I took with me a few flower pots, a beautiful glass bottle and a perfectly fit lampshade! All this is free of charge - both to hand over your rubbish and to pick up what has become unnecessary for someone. By the way, this whole system with separate collection of garbage and waste was introduced by a directive of the European Union for all its members and at one time caused heated debate in Great Britain. Today, with just over a week left before the fateful referendum on whether the UK should stay in or leave the European Union, the debate has shifted to a more general plane - immigration, the economy, the dominance of bureaucracy and the preservation of state independence. Every day on the radio and on TV, politicians agitate for one thing or another. Moreover, they predict a terrible future for the country if we stay. Or if we leave. And they accuse each other of intimidation and lies. And on both sides, the arguments are quite convincing, but, listening to all these debates and disputes, I caught myself on the fact that even the most reasonable arguments for going out can no longer work on me. I am in favor of the UK remaining in the European Union.* Continued. Beginning - NT #40 of November 30 and #42 of December 14, 2015. Nos. 1,3,5,9,11,13,16,18 for 2016.

The New Times continues publishing the diaries of the famous journalist Masha Slonim, who went into exile for the second time*

In the evenings, I take cigarette butts out of my pockets. Not because I keep them to finish smoking later, it hasn't come to that yet, although cigarettes are terribly expensive here. No, I collect cigarette butts during the day so I don't throw them on the ground or on the pavement where there are no bins. I don’t quit not because now in England they can be fined for it, I just don’t want to violate cleanliness. The next question is what kind of garbage to identify cigarette butts. I have three options: waste for recycling, where glass bottles, plastic milk containers and unwanted flyers go; biological waste, food leftovers, etc., which are apparently taken to compost; general rubbish, where you can put everything that is not included in the previous two categories. Cigarette butts fly into the general trash. For all these tanks, huge cars come once a week and take it all away in an unknown direction. For all this, as well as for many other things, I pay a lot of money, Council Tax. In my area it is more than ?2 thousand per year, but I, as a living one (dogs and cats do not count), were knocked off 25%! Caring huge cars cannot take away all the garbage that has accumulated in my garage as a result of the move - cardboard boxes and smelly rugs, with which the previous owner lined the space around the house so that her dogs would not prick their paws on hard gravel, demanded reprisal! And I, having folded and packed it all into my car, went to the nearest Waste Recycling Center. It may sound boring, but it's actually a very fun backyard! People busily and cheerfully scurry from container to container - for plastic, for metal, for unusable rags, for rags that are quite suitable, for electrical appliances ... A warehouse of old stoves and other household items that can still be used, old exercise bikes, children's bicycles, a container for garden waste, grass, cut branches, bushes. When you don't know where to take your rubbish, like I did with my stinky rugs that didn't fit into any category, they are taken from you by a Center worker and taken to the correct container for stinky rugs. And in the corner of the yard there is a shed where, having got rid of unnecessary rubbish, you can choose the one you need - books, furniture, pictures, kitchen utensils. You will not find first editions and antiques there, but I took with me a few flower pots, a beautiful glass bottle and a perfectly fit lampshade! All this is free - and hand over your trash, and pick up what has become unnecessary for someone.

By the way, this whole system with separate collection of garbage and waste was introduced by the directive of the European Union for all its members and caused heated debate in the UK at the time. Today, with just over a week left before the fateful referendum on whether the UK should stay in or leave the European Union, the debate has shifted to a more general plane - immigration, the economy, the dominance of bureaucracy and the preservation of state independence. Every day on the radio and on TV, politicians agitate for one thing or another. Moreover, they predict a terrible future for the country if we stay. Or if we leave. And they accuse each other of intimidation and lies. And on both sides, the arguments are quite convincing, but, listening to all these debates and disputes, I caught myself on the fact that even the most reasonable arguments for going out can no longer work on me. I am for the UK to remain in the European Union.

* Continuation. Beginning - NT #40 of November 30 and #42 of December 14, 2015. Nos. 1,3,5,9,11,13,16,18 for 2016.