Month: January 2026

Navigating Municipal Services: Recycling Dilemmas

January 7, 2026

Do you live in a city with municipal services such as water, sewer, electricity, and waste collection? And if you do, have you ever had trouble with any services? Today was my turn.

This morning, before seven o’clock, I put out the garbage for collection. I won’t bore you with the complicated schedule of what gets picked up when — let’s just say you practically need a college degree to figure out which type of waste goes into which color bin on which day of the week.

So out went the blue bin with glass and plastics, the green bin with compost, and two black garbage bags containing all other garbage except paper, which is collected on alternate weeks. When I stepped outside an hour later, two more black garbage bags had magically appeared beside mine. Someone had the audacity to drop their garbage at my curb.

Normally, that wouldn’t matter, but in their infinite wisdom, the city fathers have decided that we must recycle more and now only pick up three black garbage bags every two weeks. I decided to wait and see whether the collectors would take all four bags. Of course, they didn’t — one bag was left sitting on my driveway.

I was annoyed. I suspected the neighbor across the street, because next to us is a large rental complex with huge open dumpsters, so the tenants wouldn’t need to sneak extra bags onto someone else’s curb. Our immediate neighbors don’t produce much garbage, and we know them well. The couple next door and the small family across the street have even asked us in the past to put out their bins when they’re away. That left, by process of elimination, the neighbors one house down on the opposite side of the street.

My suspicion grew when I remembered that over the weekend, they had four cars in their driveway and another four parked along the curb in front of our house. When I took out my garbage, I also noticed a pile of bins and bags on their driveway. One gets the impression they might be running a B&B out of that house — there are always different cars coming and going, some staying for weeks, others only a few days. I even searched online to see if I could identify the owner or occupants but found nothing.

Frustrated, I picked up the extra bag and placed it squarely in the middle of their driveway. Let them deal with it. When I checked later that night, the bag was gone and a car was parked there instead.

Was I right to return the bag? Should I have knocked on their door to discuss it? I honestly don’t know. I don’t know any of the people living there, and with the constant flow of vehicles, it’s impossible to tell who lives there. Maybe I overreacted — but at the time, it certainly didn’t feel like it.

The lesson to learn is that recycling does work. Once you separate paper, glass, plastics, food and garden trash, there is not much garbage left. So, the next time I find garbage on my driveway I did not place there, I’ll go across the street and try to talk with the residents there about recycling.

Meet New Friends: Dogs as Conversation Starters

January 1, 2026

While visiting my daughter in Williamsburg, VA, I strolled through New Quarter Park, where I met Mike and his canine companion, Leila. The unleashed Leila, an eighty-pound German Shepherd, approached and sniffed my outstretched hand before continuing to investigate the surroundings. Mike explained that Leila, although very affectionate, was not the kind of dog who lounged on his lap or slept in his bed, which, given her size, would overwhelm Mike’s modest build and take over his bed.

Leila actually belongs to Mike’s brother, who lives in a Manhattan apartment and had lent the dog to Mike for a few weeks. The thought of keeping such a large German Shepherd in a downtown New York apartment struck me as challenging, especially since Leila is five years old and needs regular exercise. I found it hard to imagine how someone could care for a dog like her in a constricted space, particularly if she was left alone while her owner was at work.

Mike walks Leila twice a day and buys substantial amount of food to keep her appetite satisfied. Despite these challenges, Mike spoke fondly of her, describing her as very protective. This made me wonder if his brother kept her for safety, but I realized this might be a stereotype image I have of big cities, the neighborhood where his brother lives in New York may be pretty safe.

Leila’s friendly greeting led to an extended conversation with Mike. I learned that Mike grew up in Norfolk, VA, near Williamsburg. After living in various places, he returned to the East Coast and is now happily retired in Williamsburg. His downtown apartment is comfortable and close to amenities and the park, so he can easily walk Leila.

Continuing along the park path, I met three people with two dogs running around them. When they noticed me, they quickly put leashes on their dogs. I assured them that I liked dogs and encouraged them to let the dogs remain loose and invited the dogs for a “sniff introduction.” A black Labrador came over to acknowledge me while the other one paid no attention. The owners shared that during the Covid pandemic, they kept their dogs away from people because most people shooed them away. They also mentioned that not everyone in the park welcomed dogs on the loose and had been asked to leash their pets.

Reflecting on these encounters, it dawned on me how easily dogs initiate and facilitate conversations among people. Confirming my eureka moment, I encountered another dog pulling her owner’s arm out of its socket to get closer to me. She was a middle-aged woman, and rather than watching her struggle to keep the dog from crossing the road, I walked over and explained that I would be comfortable with her pet greeting me. In the ensuing conversation I discovered that she was, in fact, my daughter’s neighbor.

In just a couple of hours, I had three interesting conversations with dog owners, each one initiated by their dogs’ curiosity. The lesson: to meet people, go for a walk and find dog-walkers.