Garbage rules are a pile of garbage

Well, I now know what my municipal tax dollars are spent on these days.

Today, I received a letter in the mail, telling me that I did not have my garbage covered on April 4th, 2011, and was therefore in contravention of subsection who-the-hell-cares, and in future I may be subject to fines up to $5000.

This cost $0.59 to post, not including the paper and envelope.

My tax dollars at work.

See, the thing is... when this 'cover your garbage' nonsense first started several years ago, I boycotted the whole damn thing for that whole summer. I didn't put out any garbage at all, until the winter came and it was no longer necessary to use the stupid net. I took the garbage over to Robin Hood Bay myself and dropped it off. I don't accumulate that much garbage, so it's not like my garage was overflowing.

What bugged me enough to start doing that, though, were the claims by City Hall that birds were ransacking the garbage, making a mess, so the use of these nets was going to stop this. I had been putting out garbage for years, and not once was it ever molested by the crows / seagulls / whatever, because I was double bagging it. Now all of a sudden, I was being forced to spend money on a stupid, filthy, rotten, unsanitary and ineffective net. My 'neighbors', Scotia Recycling, on the other hand, had more old garbage spewing around on Rhodora Street and Portugal Cove Road than all of Airport Heights combined. I was so angry about these ridiculous nets that I even wrote a letter to The Telegram, which was printed. It allowed me to vent my spleen, but of course it didn't do any good.

I'll tell you this... I wish I had a dollar for every time I've seen birds picking at garbage THROUGH those stupid nets!!! It makes me laugh. Not funny ha-ha, I assure you.

So, off to Robin Hood Bay I'd go, every now and then, when it was necessary. As it turned out, I actually found it more convenient to do that. I didn't have to be up out of my bed at the crack of dawn on days off, so I didn't miss the flaming truck. I could put my garbage in Sobey's bags if I wanted to, not just the pre-approved bags.

(I'm not even going to get into the whole blue bag recycling nonsense, because I'm liable to have a stroke if I do. I'll just say this... TRUCKS MAKING TWO ROUNDS OF THE WHOLE CITY EVERY OTHER WEEK IS NOT ENVIRONMENTALLY FRIENDLY!!!! IT'S ENVIRONMENTAL AND FISCAL LUNACY!!!! ESPECIALLY WHEN FUEL PRICES ARE AS HIGH AS THEY CURRENTLY ARE. THEY'LL NEVER SEE A BLUE BAG OUTSIDE MY DOOR, EVER.)

Back to the topic at hand...

Right now, for instance, I have to have my garbage out by 8 a.m., because they come so flaming early. Not too long ago, my garbage wasn't picked up until after 2 p.m., so there was no big panic in the mornings. Now, I'm missing putting it out more often than I remember, just like I did this week. I wonder did the garbage man, who ratted me out to City Hall last week, notice? Well, now that I got my letter threatening me with a $5000 fine, Mr. Garbage Dude won't be doing any more business at my house, not until the winter when the nets can be put away.

And as for a Christmas envelope, I hope the rat bastard isn't depending on one. I usually do leave an envelope for him, but I admit I did forget this past Christmas. I guess this is his payback. Jerk. Saves me feeling guilty about it next Christmas, though I could leave the friggin' snitch a succinctly-worded note. Hmmm...

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