It's Friday!

[Cait]

12 hours ago, enuffsenuf said:

do you know what...If I were you I would grasp the nettle go back on Monday (even if no one is there) tell your families you are open for those who want to come and sit back and wait.....like a firework there will be a slow fizzle, you will wonder if the thing is going to lift off but I bet if you go back some of your families will go back too and then its like a waterfall no holding back because to be honest things aint gonna be any better in Sept!   So I would open have a plan of action plan some nice things  and see....even if you are in there on your tod just cleaning at least you aren't at home feeling blue and unwanted.   For example when we opened we started with 6, then 8 and now Im up to 12!    Last week we are holding a mini sports day for the children (no spectators) a teddy bears picnic (because we cant have real teddies we are going to collage/paint cardboard teddies this week so each child has one) and on the last day we are blooming well having graduation!    So go back tell them you are going back and see....lawks...I'm so radical in my old age its quite frightening at times!  

I think that’s an unhelpful post really.   We’ve read on Sunnyday’s posts about her need for complete shielding with Mr S’s fragile health state.  If she’s been feeling a bit low this week, it may in all possibility have nothing to do with needing to be back ‘in harness’.  I’m sure she is already aware that, come September, things may not have altered drastically, and is already making contingency plans if that turns out to be the case.  We know that this virus isn’t going anywhere for a good while yet, and we all have to create our own strategies and individual ways to move forward.   There’s no ‘one size fits all’, as the schools are finding out, and certainly a ‘gung-ho‘ attitude is not appropriate everywhere.  If it’s worked for you, then great, but it’s not going to work for most settings, I wouldn’t have thought.  To be honest, I was slightly horrified reading your post.   

[zigzag]

We returned with three children and my chairperson was very sure that lots of parents would send their children back once we had been open a couple of weeks. I felt confident after speaking to all my parents individually that they were more than happy with their decisions to keep the children at home until September (I completely agree with them as well) Despite the chairperson telling the other families how much her children have enjoyed being back and me extending the offer to the five other school leavers to join us I only have one more who is returning next week.  I for one am really impressed with peoples decisions to keep their children at home and think they are jolly sensible.  It has been a good eye opener for how we will have to operate in September and enabled us realise it’s going to be jolly hard with everyone back and six new children!  
In these strange times I have found some weeks really easy to get through but other weeks I struggle with feeling anxious and worrying about what will happen next and when will things return to anything that resembles normal. This does lead to a feeling of helplessness and feeling low.  Especially at the moment when I see a distinct lack of social distancing and people behaving like fools just because they want to go shopping or to the beach. This really annoys me as we are unable to visit my Dad in hospital at a time when he desperately needs us. All the time people behave like that we are just going to prolong this god awful virusThe expected influx of tourists to Cornwall (and yes we desperately need them) fills me with dread. We have such limited resources down here and struggle to cope in a normal summer. 
Sunnyday you lovely lady, sending you positive vibes, keep your chin up and hopefully the lovely summer sunshine will soon return and you can get back out in your garden. Xxx

[Mouseketeer]

Crumbs zigzag I saw the hideous tailback of traffic heading down the A303 towards you yesterday, by the time they get there it will be time to turnaround and go home 🤷‍♀️
 

If it helps sunnyday as much as it’s been nice to see some of the children back I can’t wait to get to the Summer Hols with no covid related problems,  the children have been amazing, parents supportive, some staff have shown a more ‘up for it attitude’ than others but that’s ok and the enhanced cleaning isn’t so bad but what is energy draining is the ‘I saw so and so chatting and they weren’t social distancing’, or there are photos on FB that clearly show that guidance isn’t being adhered to and then worrying about what you’re going to do about that as once seen you have to consider other chn and staff safety, in some ways the relaxing of who can mix with who with will lessen that but now we have 2 weeks to worry about what happens if a family in one bubble are meeting a family in another bubble and someone has symptoms,  couldn’t the meeting up with another family have just coincided with the relaxing of bubbles 🤦‍♀️

[playgroup1]

Thanks Louby Loo. Sounds like what I was thinking of doing. I am cautious of it becoming an "official" playgroup event in case there is any comeback. Our local community has a very active Facebook group which has lots of people with opinions!

[enuffsenuf]

22 hours ago, sunnyday said:

🤣 In the words of John McEnroe - you cannot be serious!

Of course I will not just go back on Monday - I have known for weeks that we won't now re-open until September - this parents choice and I have huge respect for their decision making

I don't have a gung-ho attitude - not my style at all - always play everything by the book - prepare for a stealth boast now - maybe that's why my provision is judged as Outstanding!

Further to that, I am not sitting about feeling 'unwanted'- I was just sharing that I had a fairly miserable week 

I'm sure that you were trying to help, but really this didn't help at all 🤦‍♀️

sorry you wont hear a peep out of me further

 

[zigzag]

53 minutes ago, enuffsenuf said:

sorry you wont hear a peep out of me further

 

enuffsenuf one of the things that I have found invaluable on this forum is that we are all unique in the settings that we come from, how we work and our personal views. This can lead to interesting and thought provoking discussions and of course at times we may all well disagree with each other which is only natural. I love that we can say what we think and people will react but then we can move on and enjoy the next topic and discussion. Please don’t feel that you now can’t comment or participate, that is the last thing that any of us want. 

[sunnyday]

17 hours ago, enuffsenuf said:

sorry you wont hear a peep out of me further

 

Oh dear enuffsenuf I am genuinely sorry that you feel like that and I hope that you will reconsider your decision?

When I read this post yesterday evening my reaction was, do I reply or do I just let this lie now. The fact that you quoted my post has made me feel that I have somehow 'run you off' the forum. I have looked back at my posts to see if I regret anything that I posted and indeed I do - the crack about being Outstanding was completely uncalled for, however, aside from that, no regrets, I have tried to be calm and considerate in my responses, if I have missed the mark then I apologise

You are clearly an enthusiastic and dedicated practitioner and I look forward to reading more posts from you, if you don't wish to take part anymore then all I can do is send my very best wishes to you

 

[louby loo]

Well I know it's not Friday, but as this is quite an active thread I'd like to ask a question-

Our council want to stop our weekly garden waste collection during the winter months, As someone with quite a biggish ( but not massive) garden I am  really quite gutted 😟

It has however got me thinking, how many people on here actually have a weekly 'green' collection free? (well obviously paid within council  tax)

My nephew with the same county different district has to pay  a yearly extra and I know a few other counties do. 

I love my green bin! 

Edited July 7, 2020 by louby loo

[Panders]

My council switched to garden waste collection every 2 weeks and charging extra for it.   I am not sure how they know who has paid and who hasn't - can't really see the bin men having the time to check that!     They are efficient though.    It's £50 per year and currently because of Covid when they didn't collect, they are extending the collection time by a couple of months when we will not have to pay.   They collect all year.   We have a fairly large garden and so any "extra" garden waste which we cannot fit in during the summer months my husband keeps stored in a large canvas bag (like sand gets delivered in) and feeds it into the bin during the winter months if he needs to.     He is not a compost maker😀

[blondie]

we pay yearly and are given a bin with a brown lid which is collected fortnightly so bin men are aware of who to collect from.  

[louby loo]

25 minutes ago, Panders said:

My council switched to garden waste collection every 2 weeks and charging extra for it.   I am not sure how they know who has paid and who hasn't - can't really see the bin men having the time to check that!     They are efficient though.    It's £50 per year and currently because of Covid when they didn't collect, they are extending the collection time by a couple of months when we will not have to pay.   They collect all year.   We have a fairly large garden and so any "extra" garden waste which we cannot fit in during the summer months my husband keeps stored in a large canvas bag (like sand gets delivered in) and feeds it into the bin during the winter months if he needs to.     He is not a compost maker😀

My nephew's bin is micro chipped, but he has said they still need to keep an eye on it and get it in as soon as possible after collection as they are sometimes stolen 😮 !

I suppose the bin thief goes on the thoughts of- who actually checks that households have paid ??? As you say do bin men actually have the time once on rounds.

[louby loo]

2 minutes ago, blondie said:

we pay yearly and are given a bin with a brown lid which is collected fortnightly so bin men are aware of who to collect from.  

Our bins are all black with coloured lids.... sometimes during the neighbours holiday we change lids to green (we have a spare lid 😁) so we can put an extra bin out 😮🤣

Our black bins are collected once a fortnight, although I don't want to even get into the big debate about them wanting to change recycling bags for a bin!!, that's causing a lot of stress in the local district!

I should add we are all community spirited -so we do share the extra lid    

[Froglet]

Black bins (general household rubbish) alternate weeks with a recycling collection. During the summer (I think it’s quite a long ‘summer’) there a garden waste collection on the same week as recycling. I don’t have a brown bin as my garden is teeny so neither generates much waste nor does it need anything extra taking up space!

[sunnyday]

42 minutes ago, Panders said:

My council switched to garden waste collection every 2 weeks and charging extra for it.   I am not sure how they know who has paid and who hasn't - can't really see the bin men having the time to check that!     They are efficient though.    It's £50 per year and currently because of Covid when they didn't collect, they are extending the collection time by a couple of months when we will not have to pay.   They collect all year.   We have a fairly large garden and so any "extra" garden waste which we cannot fit in during the summer months my husband keeps stored in a large canvas bag (like sand gets delivered in) and feeds it into the bin during the winter months if he needs to.     He is not a compost maker😀

What Panders said!

If you don't pay up they remove the bin!

We are great composters though - it is a bit of an obsession here 🤣

[Cait]

We can have as many green garden bins as we like.  We pay £38 a year for ten months of collections, removed fortnightly.  The bins have a tag attached by a cable clip on the handle.  The tag is like a Visa card, type of thing, and a different colour each year, so it’s obvious who has paid.  
We have a blue string bag for paper, green box for glass and a black box for plastic and tins.  This is also fortnightly on the same week as garden collection.  The other week is general house bins.   

[louby loo]

14 minutes ago, Froglet said:

Black bins (general household rubbish) alternate weeks with a recycling collection. During the summer (I think it’s quite a long ‘summer’) there a garden waste collection on the same week as recycling. I don’t have a brown bin as my garden is teeny so neither generates much waste nor does it need anything extra taking up space!

What about food waste? do you get a small bin for that?  T

That's the issue causing our users the most stress at the moment, currently  we add food waste to the green bin which is currently collected weekly.  The council have not said what their plans are, just that they are considering drop went collection of green bin.

[Cait]

Food waste? 🤔

not that we really have any, but it would go in the household waste, unless it was compostable.   

[louby loo]

19 minutes ago, Cait said:

We can have as many green garden bins as we like.  We pay £38 a year for ten months of collections, removed fortnightly.  The bins have a tag attached by a cable clip on the handle.  The tag is like a Visa card, type of thing, and a different colour each year, so it’s obvious who has paid.  
We have a blue string bag for paper, green box for glass and a black box for plastic and tins.  This is also fortnightly on the same week as garden collection.  The other week is general house bins.   

Is that £38 each bin, or for as many as you need? 

To be honest we would pay, but I would still like it to be weekly (especially during the summer months!)

37 minutes ago, sunnyday said:

 

We are great composters though - it is a bit of an obsession here 🤣

I think we're to lazy for that😮 ,  I thought you just kept chucking stuff on top but I think it takes a bit of management to do it properly?  That said I do have my eye on a small area just beyond  our back fence that would make an ideal spot... and know one would ever know...  🙄

[louby loo]

26 minutes ago, Cait said:

Food waste? 🤔

not that we really have any, but it would go in the household waste, unless it was compostable.   

We have very little food waste to be honest.  Just compostable fruit and veg trimmings... I'm veggie- and I don't do anything with 'bones' for anyone else! 😊

[Cait]

9 minutes ago, louby loo said:

Is that £38 each bin, or for as many as you need? 

To be honest we would pay, but I would still like it to be weekly (especially during the summer months!)

Yes, that’s for each bin.   We have two.  In Cumbria we also had two, but there was no additional charge.  

[Panders]

Food waste is put in a medium sized bin and collected weekly.  My husband calls it 'the poor bucket' he's not particularly p.c.. All our collection changed last year and it took a while to get head around it, a new company took over.  Recyclables - glass, plastic (not black) week one along with food waste and garden waste, week 2 non recyclables and paper and cardboard and food waste.  So we have 3 and a half huge bins and a green box for paper and card - good job we have a reasonable storage space.

 

why these councils can't all be the same defeats me.

[louby loo]

20 minutes ago, Panders said:

why these councils can't all be the same defeats me.

Very true.  I feel sorry for people that don't have the storage for all these bins and boxes.

I have to say our  binmen are fantastic at their job, and the  current system works well at the moment- but obviously not cost effective. hence the change  

 

[zigzag]

Thankfully we still have a weekly rubbish collection. The recycling is every fortnight and so is the garden waste scheme. The garden waste scheme, you buy a bin for a one off payment and then a yearly fee which for the largest bin is £43. 

[sunnyday]

I am really enjoying all the bin talk!

In our area, when the changes from 'all in dustbins' to recycling and household waste wheelie bins was about to be introduced, our Parish Council arranged for someone from our Borough Council to come and tell us all about it - this meeting was hilarious - I couldn't decide if people were being purposely obtuse or if they were a little 'hard of understanding' 😮 at the end of said meeting I helped this poor lady carry her 'equipment' out to her car and apologised to her about the apparent lack of understanding from my fellow villagers, she said "don't worry about it, it has been the same in every village that I have visited" - how bizarre

As I said somewhere upthread we are keen composters (too keen probably!) - the results are great, we haven't bought any new compost this year, haven't needed to and of course we couldn't have done so because of shielding for Mr. S (dare say we could have got some delivered) 

I have on several occasions researched 'worm composting' - but then I think 'this is a step too far' and I know that I would soon tire of faffing around with that😁 

[sunnyday]

In other news - I have had to ring our bank today - what a palaver it is to actually get to speak to someone.....

Over the last couple of days we have been inundated with calls supposedly from our bank - it is of course a phishing scam 😡

As if this situation we all find ourselves in wasn't bad enough, it honestly makes me so cross and I really worry about elderly people who might fall for this - I must have a word with my lovely mother-in-law about this, although Mr. S did point out that she can't hear anyone on the phone anyway so she's probably okay, I don't think we can risk that though

[louby loo]

1 hour ago, sunnyday said:

I have on several occasions researched 'worm composting' - but then I think 'this is a step too far' and I know that I would soon tire of faffing around with that😁 

Does that mean I can just chuck everything into one of these green bell type tubs after all?  I thought I had to fully 'manage' the heap with worms otherwise I just get green slop 😳

I guess I need to do some basic research  

[sunnyday]

12 minutes ago, louby loo said:

Does that mean I can just chuck everything into one of these green bell type tubs after all?  I thought I had to fully 'manage' the heap with worms otherwise I just get green slop 😳

I guess I need to do some basic research  

You can put in all fruit/veg scraps - uncooked!

Paper and card - this is 'brown' aspect

Grass cuttings - but not too many

I never, ever compost weeds but some people do.....

Never, ever add anything that has been cooked

All of our 'old' plants go in at the end of summer

The worms will find their own way in as will earwigs, wood lice, slugs etc

A 'worm composter' is a completely different thing - that would take some faffing about

[sunnyday]

Oh back to say that all of our old compost goes back in as well - i.e. the compost that we have grown tomatoes, potatoes in + compost from pots that are being emptied for the winter

[finleysmaid]

2 hours ago, sunnyday said:

Oh back to say that all of our old compost goes back in as well - i.e. the compost that we have grown tomatoes, potatoes in + compost from pots that are being emptied for the winter

and egg shells and coffee grounds???!!!???

[sunnyday]

1 minute ago, finleysmaid said:

and egg shells and coffee grounds???!!!???

I don't have any coffee grounds (I'm very common and use instant!)

Yes to egg shells and egg boxes