The sound of a motor and hydraulics, the rattle and thump of the bins being loaded and emptied – it’s back to a routine early morning Friday. The recycling services are back to their regular Thursday and Friday pattern in Abingdon, having caught up after the bank holidays over Christmas and New Year. The lorry is in the middle of West St Helen Street, while cars, along with the occasional cyclist, pass or attempt to pass on the far side. A worker in a Hi-Viz vest waits as the lorry tips in two green recycling wheely bins. He then wheels them away, one in each hand. The food waste lorry has already been. Some houses have placed out their brown bins, with Christmas trees alongside, ready for the garden waste recycling lorry.

Sometimes I only have the hum-drum to report.