Last week we had our first collection under the "Green Waste Plus" scheme - & I have to admit it wasn't an especially happy experience.

 

Now, I have to say upfront that I fully support the scheme and am sure it will help the Borough's recycling rates.

 

However on our first collection we had the dreaded maggot problem....................

 

Judi & myself had decided to try putting our food waste into the wheelie bin for the full 2 weeks before the collection - really as a trial to see if we would have noxious smells and maggots in the bin.

 

Perhaps we didn't get the mix of food waste, green garden waste and cardboard right but within about a week there was a distinctly odd smell at the bottom of the garden (stranger than usual anyway!) and after 10 days the maggots had appeared.

 

We had been diligent in keeping the bin lid closed but I guess that a blowfly only needs a second to get into the bin when it's being refilled.

 

So, we will now revert to our original plan which is to but food waste out in the purple sack in the week that our dry recyclables are collected and only put food waste into the wheelie bin in the few days before the Green Waste Plus collection.

 

It's a bonus that the cardboard now goes in the wheelie bin - no more trips to the Neighbourhood Recycling Centre.

 

Perhaps we will try to fully utilise the Green Waste Plus scheme in the Winter months but for now we won't be putting too much food waste into the wheelie bin.

I've been away from the blog for most of the last couple of months - a combination of other priorities, some illness and a certain lack of inspiration.

 

However I'm now back on board & to start things rolling a picture that amused me from the BBC website.

 

The road sign writers in Guilford, North Carolina, USA made a small error when remarking a recently repaved road..................

 

I see that the wording of the AV referendum has now been published:

 

 

We will have an opportunity to vote on this on May 5th 2011.

 

I'm not enthused by this proposal - of the various voting systems that could bring a degree of "proportionality" into our elections I think this is just about the worse possible option.

 

I rather like Winston Churchill's 1931 quote on AV:

 

 

I have grave doubts about this referendum.

 

Having had a very quick glance at the Parliamentary Voting Systems & Constituencies Bill, published to the UK Parliament website yesterday, it appears that the referendum will be decided on a simple majority of votes cast.

 

Now, as this subject is hardly likely to enthuse the masses I really don't think we will have a huge turn out of people to vote on May 5th 2011.

 

The referendum is to coincide with Local Elections, which as we know typically get a 30 - 35% turnout.

 

So just by applying some simple maths the final decision on our future electoral system may be determined by <20% of the UK's registered voters.

 

I seem to recall that in previous referendums that there was a requirement for a higher percentage of voters to agree to the proposed change before it could proceed - this doesn't seem to be the case with this proposal.

 

The Parliamentary Voting Systems & Constituencies Bill has, of course, got to pass through the usual stages in Parliament before it becomes law & there will certainly be attempts to amend parts of it.

 

What really concerns me is that the UK could effectively "sleepwalk" into a change of our voting system, decided by a small minority of voters and inflict a pretty dismal form of PR on the nation.

 

As it happens I don't believe for a minute that AV is a system the Lib Dems really want & I am pretty sure that hardly any Conservatives support it.

 

It seems to me that the AV referendum is an example of the compromises that both the Lib Dems and ourselves had to "swallow" when putting together the coalition agreement.

 

I guess that I should make it clear that I oppose the introduction of any form of PR into our Parliamentary elections & will be campaigning to retain the "first past the post" system.

 

As an aside, the part of the Parliamentary Voting Systems & Constituencies Bill that I do like is the proposal to reduce the number of MP's from 650 - 600.

 

I have previously said that we are over represented and I believe this would be a move in the right direction.

I am a huge fan of test match cricket so I couldn't really let today go by without commenting on Muttiah Muralitharan's achievement of taking his 800'th test match wicket.

 

I don't think there is a cricketer in the modern age who has caused so much debate and controversy resulting from his highly unusual bowling action.

 

Every cricket fan in the world will have a view on this, I happen to think that Murali is a "chucker" and believe that in a different age he would have been thrown out of the game.

 

However I understand that millions of people, and more importantly the people who run the game, are happy with his bowling action - even if the rules of the game seem to have been adjusted to fit Murali's idiosyncratic action.

 

I think we would all agree though that Murali is a true gentleman, that he has brought a great deal of entertainment & enjoyment to the game in the last 20 or so years and has really been good news for Sri Lankan cricket.

 

Debate amongst cricket lovers will continue for long years about Murali & his bowling records.

 

One of the great pleasures of the "Summer Game" is the comparisons between players of different eras and the debates about who was better, who goes into the all time world 11 etc etc.

 

To some extent this is all pretty meaningless (albeit good fun) as there aren't too many people around who actually saw the cricketing greats of the pre 1939 period.

 

Judgements on these players has to be based on archive film, anecdotes and looking at the statistics in Wisden. (Although I think everybody accepts Don Bradman as the greatest cricketer of all time by a "country mile")

 

My memory of test cricket goes back to the early 1970's - so as a bit of fun my World Test Cricket 11, based on the players I have watched would be:

 

(1)   Barry Richards     (South Africa)

(2)   Sunil Gavaskar     (India)

(3)   Sachin Tendulkar  (India)

(4)   Viv Richards        (West Indies)

(5)   Greg Chappell      (Australia - Captain)

(6)   Gary Sobers         (West Indies)

(7)   Alan Knott           (England - wicket keeper)

(8)   Richard Hadlee    (New Zealand)

(9)   Shane Warne        (Australia)

(10) Dennis Lillee        (Australia)

(11) Michael Holding   (West Indies)

 

There are so many others who could easily slip in to my team.

 

Imran Khan, Gordon Greenidge, Clive Lloyd, Malcolm Marshall, Courtney Walsh, Courtley Ambrose, Ian Botham, Ricky Ponting, Javed Miandad, Brian Lara, Roy Fredericks, Kapil Dev, Allan Border - all time great players & all well worth a place.

 

The one thing that slightly depresses me is that I only selected one English cricketer in my team and only briefly considered Botham before awarding the all rounders slot to the peerless Gary Sobers.

 

I wonder in 10 years time if any of the current crop of England players would force their way in - as things stand only Kevin Pietersen would stand a chance (& a thin one at that).

 

 

A useful letter in last weeks East Herts Herald - I certainly didn't know that the County Council Recycling Centres accepted tetra packs for recycling.