I'm glad you brought up trash collection, Yogi. First, I was surprised that everyone in England has trash pick up on the same day. It sounds as if the process is controlled by a governmental unit too.

Our trash pick up is contracted to a private business, whom we pay directly for the service. this is the case in most of American suburbia, I assume. Also, our trash is picked up on Tuesdays, but other neighborhoods in the township have different days.

Each family is limited to four trash bags per week in addition to unlimited recyclables and one free standing item, like an old piece of furniture or appliance.

A few weeks ago I came home to find out that our trash was the only one in the neighborhood not collected. The reason was that there was a small shopping bag of trash placed in one of my trash recepticles that constituted a fifth bag. The small bag would easily have fitted inside any of the four trash bags that I placed on the curb, but because it was technically 5, they picked up nothing, not even the recyclables.

I had just given the trash collectors $100 at Christmas too.