There’s a good deal going on in Sedbergh with an assortment of community funding campaigns.

In the past. to access grants a group would simply go along and present its case in person to the grant body. Nowadays there are often mountains of forms and regulations to be negotiated. It’s just another reminder of how the world has changed – and yet like fashion everything comes round again.

For example once again we are able to have groceries delivered to our door. This was common practice when I was a girl and in those days prices hardly went up at all, but lately the cost of food, fuel and just about everything grows on a weekly basis.

Then there‘s council tax which is a big chunk of anyone’s budget. Among the services council tax pays for is our rubbish and recycling collections. The collections here follow a fortnightly pattern which means we have to remember if it’s rubbish or recycling week. Last Monday morning it was rubbish, so the bin was put out for collection. It’s always a puzzle when something goes missing, but a wheelybin!Husband Keith thought it may have been left on another street. He roamed the area around our house, calling ‘here binny binny’ but found no lonely, downcast bin.

It was a sunny day so Keith mounted his bike and cycled into Kendal, presenting himself in colourful cycling lycra at the council offices. The girl behind the counter was surprised by his tale and conceivably his appearance. As luck would have it, an old friend of Keith’s who works at the council walked in.

Keith related the tale of the runaway bin. His friend laughed and explained that it happens quite frequently. Apparently wheelybins unable to take another bag of household debris can become desperate and with no thought of their baffled owners throw themselves into the cart’s crusher. What a sad end to our faithful rubbish receptacle.