A Load of Rubbish

One of the things that the French always complain about (supposedly) is that the British owners of second homes always fill up the rubbish bins at aires de repos with domestic rubbish. Indeed, even Susan and I have done this, but only once.

The reason is simple - if your poubelle* collection happens on a Thursday - as it does in Preuilly - and you're leaving on a Saturday, then what do you do with your black bags of gunk?. As a good citizen you can't put them out 5 days early, and even if they were open, the dechetterie (tip) wouldn't take them.

Preuilly has a solution.
Opposite the swimming pool there is a small hedged enclosure with a number of industrial sized wheelie bins. A notice on the bins states the are for owners of "maison secondaire" only. This allows us to empty our bins legally and easily.

After we have done this, it is time to get rid of glass containers. As in London, glass is not collected with the recycling (I assume it is a weight issue) and has to be put in the special containers, known as dechetteries (a term that appears to apply to any form of recycling - the yellow recycling bags are also referred to this way). These are found everywhere in France - Preuilly has at least 4 sets, and many roadside halts have them too.Once the poubelle/dechetterie situation has been taken care of, conscientious second home owners can then get on with the serious issue of travelling.

Simon


*Poubelle is one of those French words that once learnt, is never forgotten. Is is a so much better word than any of the English equivalents, and so is our default word for rubbish, garbage or trash.