Jailhouselawyer's Blog

Just before Christmas I put out my wheelie bin the night before the morning the council send a lorry to collect the waste. The next day I went about my business. When I checked the emptied bins, mine was missing. So, I telephoned the council to report this absence and inquired whether it could have ended up in the back of the wagon along with the waste. I reasoned that nobody would steal a full wheelie bin. Several days went by before the council phoned me back and conceded that my wheelie bin had mistakenly ended up in the back of the wagon and that they would order me another one. When the new one arrived, I painted my address on this like I had done with the previous one. I missed the first collection day after Christmas, but put my wheelie bin out in time for the second week. I couldn't believe that it had gone missing the second time! I phoned the council who said that I would have to pay for a replacement. I refused to do this on the ground that it is not my fault if my wheelie bin keeps doing a disappearing act. The following week, I am taking my dog for a walk and lo and behold amongst the emptied bins I see my first wheelie bin. I recognised my writing where I had painted the house number, even though the remainder of it had been rubbed off. I reclaimed my wheelie bin, and repainted the missing address. This week I keep an eye out, and when the dustbin men had emptied my wheelie bin I rushed straight out and collected it. A little later, I go out to take the dog for a walk and there before me is my second wheelie bin still with my address painted upon it and belatedly being wheeled out of the back of the house that backs onto the front of my house. I confronted the tenant that he was in possession of a wheelie bin with my address painted upon it. His solution was to offer to scrape my address off the wheelie bin as if that was the problem! I got the impression that he has been released from a mental hospital and that he is now being cared for in the community.