I slept in this morning and put out the dustbin late but at least before the wagon appeared to empty it.  It looked as if it was the last bin in the area to go out.

I looked up and down the road and can only say that I was astonished at the number of bins which were overflowing. One house really did try it on by putting out five black plastic bags next to the dustbin. We must have very tolerant bin men in that the bags seem to have been taken away.

I know that when I walked down the road to go to the allotment yesterday, I was surprised at the amount of rubbish stacked outside houses where I know that there is one child. Apparently there was no space in the bins which were definitely full with items sticking out.

Some of the stacked items could be recycled. Some of it should be recycled if there was the facility locally to deal with thicker cardboard. I looked wistfully at some of the thick cardboard poking out of bins. Ripped up it would look nice as extra brown items on my compost heap. But I didn't think that I would be popular knocking on doors asking for cardboard from dustbins for my allotment. 

For goodness sake - just what did people buy for Christmas that produced all this extra rubbish? Was some of it stuff that should be in the recycling bin but that people were too idle to sort out? Was it extra food that was wasted because no-one wanted to eat it after it was cooked?

Or was it excess packaging on presents? If you looked at toys before Christmas, the amount of packing seemed to be excessive.  Not only did some of the toys such as dolls and fancy cars come in boxes full of air, there would have been extra wrapping paper added to hide the present.  And most of the packaging on these toys is not capable of being recycled. Same with boxes of chocolates - the box can be recycled but the wrapping inside can't.

I jumped out of bed full of get up and go this morning, stripped the bed, washed the stripped bedding, hung it out on the line and then marched the new shovel down to the allotment.

Yes it's a good shovel. The sunken and spreading compost heap is now heaped up tidily and tucked back under it's cover. I've had a march around the other allotments - the only other person there working was another lady. Enough said - not a man in sight or even on site.

The allotment is no longer a quagmire but the soil is still very wet so there is not a lot that can be done. Having had a cold spell in November that triggered a cold weather payment for those on appropriate benefits and a dry period over Christmas, there has been some chance of the soil drying out despite a brief flurry of snow and one or two really rainy days.

Trouble is that once the weather shows a few fine days in winter, it feels as if it should be time to get down to the allotment and work again. At the moment there is only the option of looking at the winter onions and garlic beginning to shoot and picking one of the few cabbages and the last Swedes. However the fact that there are some beds with items in makes you realise that there is no such thing as a real close season in the gardening world. Just a quieter one.

I am going to have to take those buttercups a pint or two of roundup or some such as soon as there is any sign of the growing season. They are rioting in a couple of areas as they are the dreaded buttercups on runners. They are not something to compost as they never seem to rot down properly. I have a small bag that I have dug out with the trowel and I might spend a little time on another day moving a few more in the same way but there is going to have to be a real course of action to move them as they are taking on areas that I want to use now. 

There are corners where I can keep comfrey and horse radish in pots as these are also good spreading plants once they get their roots down. No corner of the allotment is safe from my plans for production this year!

... till they finished the puzzle. I had this down as my occupation for the next couple of days but the local family came round for tea, to bring some laundry to make up a load of whites and to take their ironing away.

I didn't mind them eating all the food, munching the mince pies, drinking up the coke cola or staying around but they finished the puzzle! However I suppose that Santa is done before the time he is due here! They were so busy they didn't complain at listening to Neil Diamond in concert on BBC Radio 2 or carols on Classic FM. In fact they were actually quite happy to have a change of music.  But they finished the puzzle! Usually they wait till Boxing Day to finish the puzzle that was on the go then.

I shall have to pull another one out of the cupboard for tomorrow - there's around twelve there so it's not a major disaster. It seems to becoming a bit of annual tradition to have some puzzle with a Christmas theme on the go for whichever members of the family turn up to join in - or finish.

The ironing fairy resident in my flat said she would do some ironing for the daughter who wanted the time to get on with some other cleaning.

This cleaning has been going on since Saturday and involved all the resident family in preparation for December 25th.  But she's not the only housewife I know who is in the throes of polishing, dusting, tidying, scrubbing, washing, decorating and food shopping for an army they won't be feeding. In fact there is an absolute spate of it in the area - the amount of washing that has been hung out this week in the area is a symptom of this. And there are no big families locally either.

Some people have been clearing out cupboards and giving away toys that children no longer play with, clothes that have been outgrown, presents that have been unused and unseen since last year and clothes that they no longer wear since the beginning of November.  There have been messages on freecycle with lists of items where people "are just clearing out their cupboards before Christmas".

Why does a two day holiday suddenly bring on a major housekeeping binge? Does it never get done during the rest of the year? Or is it that people have family and friends expected to visit so need to make the extra effort in order to give the impression of running a super efficient house? Are they expecting an inspection of the cupboards and wardrobes, the attic, the cellar and the fridge?

But it was just the same when I was growing up at home although the major preparations involved preparing food from scratch for an army of relatives who really did appear!

It's Christmas week next week and of course the bin collection days change. So there will be people who don't bother to read the new dates because the print is too small, they didn't put their bin out last week so don't know that there is a change of day, forget to put it out on the different day (I mean you sleep in on a Saturday so who wants to be bothered putting out a bin at 7am?) ....

Oh and of course down our road it's the recycling bin week - now that may be good news for the keen recycling fans who have a big family where there will be lots of wrapping paper, card board and other items that can go in this bin. However it won't please those who can't be bothered and normally have an overflowing general rubbish bin.

Will those who have their collections a day late because of New Year's day be any more pleased on the same grounds? Especially if the party has been at home and there are cans and bottles by the bin full. Those people who are good and take all their bottles down to the bottle banks will of course find that these are full (and often with a waiting queue lined up around them on the ground).

I remember living in one town where, for one year, they closed the household waste collection site over Christmas and the New Year and also missed a week out on sending out the refuse collection vans. The police had many words with them over the problems caused and it did not happen again.  The tipping problem started at the gates of said waste collection site and spread around the town.

This morning, the local supermarket had the sign up saying sorry, we can't deliver frozen foods at the moment - very sorry. For me that was no problem as I don't buy frozen food.

I asked the question of the driver when he appeared in a hire van - like what have you done to your normal van now?

The tale transpired of how the regular van had been rattling since the holiday relief driver had hit a wall with it. It had been repaired (!) but was still rattling and when the normal driver went over a speed bump with a bit of a bang, the driver shaft and exhaust fell off.  That sounds about right.  Mind you, he's actually a good delivery driver who has been doing the job for some years, knows the area and the customers.

I like the system of being able to walk down the road, buy a minimum of £15's worth of heavy goods and then walk home to wait for them to be delivered at no cost. The prices may be a bit higher but you save on the delivery and the Co-op still has a dividend system so us members benefit.

But it must be a little bit annoying for those who want to stock up on frozen stuff for Christmas this side of the weekend, to have the normal van with the facility to carry frozen goods off the road.

We've lost the company that runs our Great North Forest.  The charity has gone into administration. The Forestry Commission is a facilitator and partner is projects such as this rather than the main, managing hand.

The Great North Forest has created 2,200 acres of woodland and assured the long-term future of another 3,200 acres, reclaimed 500 acres of derelict land and improved wildlife habitats on a further 1,250 acres, created or upgraded 200 miles of recreational routes, four major gateway sites while increasing tree cover from 8% to 13%. That is quite some work in 18 years.

The local councils which take over some of the areas that have been reclaimed or improved will not have the same level of expertise amongst their employees.

Northumberland is to become a unitary authority under the old county council in April next year and we are facing cuts in services because there is a requirement to cover the rather large outstanding financial black hole.  So sadly, no financial help there then.

No doubt the present economic climate will see other such useful charities and groups go, leaving us poorer for their demise.

Today I had to take the library book back to it's home shelf or else I would have been fined. I set off down the street but stopped off on the way as the town's Over 50s Forum was meeting in the church hall and the speaker/subject sounded interesting. So I went in, had a cup of tea, sat down, listened to what was being said and was a lot wiser at the end.

There had been some cancellations along the way for the Christmas meal after the end of the meeting what with people having to go into hospital and similar. So didn't Christine get volunteered to fill up one of the spaces.  It was pleasant enough, surprisingly better than expected pub grub with the kitchen turning out a vegetarian meal that had not been ordered with no complaints at all. And the company was good (well knew a lot of them having been on committee some years back but had fallen by the wayside as attendee after resigning).

So four and a half hours later, I managed to get to the library which is only ten minutes away down the road. Still the book was returned, another taken out and there was still daylight to walk down to the allotment to add the contents of the recycling bin to the compost heap.And having eaten well, I decided that I would break the normal taboo on the big hill and walk back as well instead of catching the bus.

The ground is not defrosted in those places where the sun does not go directly in these short winter days. The fruit beds and the new onion bed are all still dusted with a sprinkling of white frost.  So it's a good thing that there is nothing which urgently requires attention.

Let's hope that with the days beginning to lengthen after Christmas it will be possible to spend some time on the promised movement and organisation of compost heaps so that come March there will be one all ready for use as a courgette and marrow patch. It would also be nice to clear a few of the buttercups that are still showing their leaves around the cold frame area. I have plans for this corner. I'm going to pop a couple of larger tubs full of compost in the area and sprinkle comfrey seeds. Ah the wonders of comfrey on the allotment - but it does need containing for it is a sturdy growing plant which is quite happy to take over the world.

Despite the damp weather and frosty conditions, the landlord decreed that the railings round the yard and steps as well as the door to the upstairs flat did have to be painted today. They should be dry by next year and if we want to use the railings by the steps in icy weather it will be the sign of the white hand.

Definitely a cup of tea and think situation.

The toilet seat has fallen apart again but only required a little technical know how in order to solve the problem.

The new CD player which came at better than half price as an ex demo model had no box so it didn't  have the instructions, a lead to attach the MP3 player that I don't own or an aerial to make the radio element work. At the moment it is running on the aerial off the oldest DAB radio - and working perfectly well. Of course I then had to discover the instructions for other DAB radio and sort out the pre-sets so that I had all the stations that I like. It's been running for years and I'd forgotten how to do the pre-sets so that each knob tunes to 2 different stations.  Nothing as simple as turning the knob till you find the station as in the old days.

I now have a redundant radio with no aerial - interesting. It won't work if we can't find a suitable aerial to replace the one that has been scavenged for other purposes. It's done six years of good service and has life in it yet. But at least the son-in-law took away his hammer (which he had been seeking) when he helped out by changing over the aerials. Time for another cup of tea and thinking.

It's so easy to go down to the shop or supermarket, load up the trolley with the tin, the packet and the ready meal, pay at the checkout, go home and stack up the store cupboard. To make a meal, you just need to open the cupboard, select the packet, heat in the microwave and eat.

The choice is endless, the process simple and you save on use of the cooker even if the price of the product is a bit higher. Washing up is just a case of washing out the containers for putting in the rubbish bin and cleaning a plate and couple of eating utensils.

But are ready meals good for you? How do you know what is really in them, whether you have had too much salt and sugar, do you understand the preservatives? And do they really taste like food? Not in my book.  I would much rather take some time to rustle up a meal from fresh ingredients.

Is there anything hard in preparing baked beans on toast? Has the art of creating scrambled eggs been lost somewhere along the line? Is it hard to cook a winter soup and freeze some for another day? What about a jacket potato in the microwave, grate some cheese on top and open a packet of salad that is available on every supermarket shelf. Or keep a variety of dried herbs in your cupboard so that you can chop and stir fry whatever vegetables are cheap and in season. To ensure that you are getting enough protein, open a tin of beans (for instance adzuki beans kidney beans, butter beans) or chick peas and add to your vegetable soup or stir fry. Cheap and easy. Tinned beans come in small sizes to suit the single person. 

But I do admit I have a place for tinned fruit - it allows me to have a supply of goodies that will store that I can pull out of the cupboard to use as pudding if there is no yogurt in the fridge. I have no patience fiddling about cooking puddings for one!

There are so many price reductions and closing down sales coming up to Christmas, that I can only wonder who will be left come the end of the January sales. The old High Street staple, Woolworth's, is being run by the administrators with every appearance of going down to its final days. The big furniture store ILVA which hoped to rival IKEA as a chain has gone. The Pier is selling off all it's stock as it's in administration. MK One, the cheap clothing store, is in administration for the SECOND time this year.

British Home Stores is regularly running 20% off days - so regularly that one almost wonders how well it really is doing and how long it will be with us. That other well known and long standing shop, Edinburgh Woollen Mill, has a 20% off everything and it's signs say everything must go. Even Marks & Spencer has had 20% and 40% off days to get people through the doors.

However I suspect that people are actually only buying things that they would have bought anyway either for Christmas or in the after Christmas sales.

At the end of the Christmas sales period will there be anything left to cut from prices for the January sales? Or will it just be the same offers on the goods that are left over to see if retailers can clear their shelves and hope that they have enough credit to be able to restock them?

Villages are loosing their pubs, shops and post offices at a rate of knots as retailing becomes a loss making operation. 

Does anyone have a use for an empty, out of town shopping mall?

When people ask "are you ready for Christmas?" the answer is always no.
I don't drink, I don't go down the pub to party, I'm a vegetarian, the family is all grown up and left home, I don't go to church - so exactly what am I supposed to do to get ready for Christmas?
I'd be most upset if the family just turned up or talked to me at Christmas I'd be on the free bus pass banging on their doors believe me and haunting them by letter, email, text and telephone every day of the year. Family and friends are for life not just for Christmas.
It should be the one day in the year when they can leave me in peace and go party with others. But then you all know that I think that Christmas is over rated and a commercial extravaganza which is no longer based on the religious reason that started off the event.

And I blame Prince Albert - him as married Queen Victoria - for importing the Christmas tree tradition and starting off all the baloney that goes with it.

Having managed to roll out of bed slightly later than usualyesterday, I looked out of the window and thought that perhaps it hadn't snowed like the weatherman had predicted. However it was still dark - but at 8.30 am the snow decided to put in an appearance and give us at least enough to look like icing rather than dandruff.

Of course it had to choose to arrive as the youngsters were going to school and the last of the workforce had to get their cars on the road because they needed the money for the Christmas bills. Sometimes it is nice not to have to go out of the door to work.

I looked out upon the pavements outside the yard and found that it was quite possible to walk down the road so went to the housing association residents forum which was actually quite interesting. Choice Based Letting of social housing sounds a fearsome scheme but once you hear it explained it is none so bad and it has a lot of advantages. It allows you to take the initiative once you have been placed on the waiting list and to see what is available and to apply for it.

At least the weather is an excuse to do all those jobs which have piled up - like sorting out the enormous pile of tee shirts which have been sitting multiplying in the wardrobe without me knowing, wrapping up the few presents that need paper because someone wants to put them under a Christmas tree (do married children ever grow up I wonder?) and finishing the sorting out of the flat.

Roll on the spring when work can resume on the allotment and the house can be ignored.

It seemed about time that an inspection was carried out so yesterday morning I set off at a fast pace as soon as the frost lifted from the pavement. Movement was needed to keep warm. I passed one of the neighbouring plot holders returning from his pigeon loft muttering about how cold it was - he'd been dealing with his pigeon loft and was not wearing gloves.

When I opened the gates, it was quite obvious that most of the plot was frozen. The ground was frozen. The water in the water butts was frozen. The compost heaps were frozen. So I walked around the plot to ensure that nothing was basically damaged though it was really too cold to do anything useful.

After ten minutes, I shut the shed again and walked back home up the hill and beat the bus to the nearest bus stop. It takes me 20 minutes to walk down the hill to the plot and 25 minutes to walk back up the hill.

And yes the neighbouring plot holder was right - it was cold. There were places were the sun had not shone and the frost was still sitting there.

I've spent about three hours today looking through the piles of everyday bills for the flat- gas and electricity, bank statements, telephone bills, mobile bills, statements for the flat rent, checking receipts against statements .....

Now they are all neatly in folders in the appropriate household bills drawer. Suddenly I wondered if this was an age thing and whether older people feel the need to have paper copies of all sorts of things as against the modern age where "it's all on the computer" (and if the computer breaks, well you've lost it ...).

But at least if someone wants a utility bill to show my name and address I can produce one fairly quickly.  Not that I have to carry proof of identity so often now that I am not claiming job seeker's allowance or looking for a privately rented house/flat.

I'm sure there are better ways of spending a freezing day and that I could have spent the time shredding the paper that I didn't want some other, more interesting way. Hey ho but at least it was too cold to go anywhere and there is a paper trail to show that all my bills are paid.

The Christmas cards are signed, addressed and stamped ready for posting next week. It could be that the three parcels that need wrapping could get done (or not) tonight. Tomorrow morning I'm going to do the first of the vegetarian Christmas puddings.

Really the filing and sorting was just a way of filing the time waiting for people to deliver or collect items. I could just as soon have started another jigsaw now that I have completed, framed and lit up the illuminated - with the help of the local family. It was hard. Quite a challenge in fact. I was glad of the help this time.

In the last 8 years I have changed one light bulb. That would be the sitting room one which I use the most.

Long time ago I was given two energy efficient light bulbs free of charge. When I moved I took them with me and I was given two more free of charge at the new address. I changed energy suppliers and then changed back again (following the good rates of course) and was given two more. I bought one of the highest 20 watt ones to put on the shelf to replace the one that came to the end of its days (there are dark areas that need a lot of light in this flat).

This morning, courtesy of the landlord and the postman, I have been given another 4 free of charge. I am not entirely sure how come I have now collected a total of 10 on the shelf in storage now. Well excuse me but I have only a need for 5 light bulbs at any one time.

If each bulb lasts about 8 years, it should take me 5 x 8 years to manage to use these all to full advantage. In other words, due to my age, I shall need to live to be over 100 to take advantage of all these free goodies. 

And we worry about being given another novelty mug at Christmas ......

But at least the cardboard box in which they came can be added to the compost heap in the future so there is something to be gained in the near future from this unexpected gift received today.