Living in San Giorgio di Pesaro and Kingston

This very uninteresting picture shows the fibre optic cable (i.e. the black tube with white paper stuck to it) that is currently being installed in San Giorgio – at least this is what I have been told. They have been laying cable both in San Giorgio and Piagge and it seems that that cable will go the local telephone exchange. Once the system goes live people are saying that our internet connection will be up to 5 times, and with a good wind behind it even up to 7 times, faster than the current speed. We await with baited breath.

Every year we are asked for a Christmas present list so that we don’t get anything we don’t want. Every year we get things not asked for.

This year Bill’s niece sam won second prize in the  “getting me something I didn’t ask for and something I would never have thought of asking for” competition. She bought me a fetching black apron which comes with purple trimming. It also has hooks for attaching various kitchen implements and adjustable apron stings for cooks with the fuller figure. To complete the gift she added a large blue plastic oven guantlet which can, should the need arise, be used for internal explorations of pregnant cows.

The first prize in the “getting me something I didn’t ask for and something I would never have thought of asking for” competition must go to my brother who bought me a complete set of Norman Wisdom films. I am still trying to work out “why”.

Obviously it was a very close competition but the jury felt that Sam couldn’t get first prize as although her give was not asked and would never have been thought of it has turned out to be very useful.

Every home in San Giorgio has now received a booklet outlining the system of door to door refuse collection which is expected to start in March. The large rubbish bins in the street will become a thing of the past.

The system is already in operation in Mondavio and according to their newsletter it has been a great success despite some inital teething problems. They claim that the amount of differentiated rubbish collected has risen from 24% to 68%. This means that the amount of rubbish taken to the municipal dump dropped by 75%. The commune has to pay for each ton of rubbish taken to the municipal dump and so the new system saves money. Of course it costs more money to manage the new system which means “the annual rubbish tax” will rise. However, the success means that Mondavio is now very near the EU target and will not be penalised by central government for not differentiating their rubbish.

When the San Giorgio system starts in March we will have container for food waste, a container for paper and cardboard, a container for glass, a sack for plastics, a sack for cans,and a container for miscellaneous dry items. The very useful booklet explaining the system clarifies important questions such as do yoghurt cartons go with the plastics (they do) and so orange juice cartons go with paper (they do). As well as all the cartons and sacks an “Ecological Station” will be created for items such as medicines, batteries, old clothes, garden waste etc. It all seems very complicated to people used to throwing everything in one large container but if Mondavio can do it so can we.