I signed up for Shropshire's £56-a-year garden waste collection scheme and got in a right tangle
After a lot of umming and ahhing about whether to pay Shropshire Council £56 a year to continue having my garden waste bin collected, I decided to commit and hand over the cash.
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The council says it is in such a dire state financially that it needs to charge people in addition to the council tax in order to fill some of the perilous multimillion pound budget hole it is facing.
So it's a charity, right? One where I contribute a bit more to keeping social services going.
And yes, I know, I am lucky to have saved up some money for it, and have a garden - even if it's only a little one, and I currently do the minimal amount to stop it turning into a complete jungle.
But I reckon that paying money out on it may be a way to motivate myself to become a Percy Thrower in my own postage stamp-sized garden universe.
And seeing as leaving it later before paying up risks my bin collection day having to change, I thought I'd better go for it.
But I won't sign up for autopayment to be taken next year. If they double the charge I can bag it up and take it to the tip instead.
