I'm glad I'm not the only one that thinks of it like that, DH says it's what they do at christmas. I said I'd leave it to DH this year and I did for his siblings but I still wanted his parents to get something nice as DH would leave it to the last minute, and what do I get? one of those plastic folding shopping bags they have by the tills, a really naff bottle opener (great for the pregnant lady..) a kids pen and a tiny compact mirror thingy that looks like came from a cracker. All wrapped individually so I had to keep opening it in-front of my family whilst trying to not to look increasingly awkward. We get a lot of 'joint' presents too for things which everyone knows I don't like, after 8 years of marriage you'd think I wouldn't care anymore.
Philomena that's awful! did you call them out?
fluffy your job sounds like good fun albeit stressful, I used to work at a law courts and would sit in on the cases during my lunch break, the court usher was a nice old man who always came to get me when an interesting case was on 
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wheels I love the sound of a childrens museum :)
Rubbish is put out on the pavement, if it's not they don't collect it even it's like half a foot away, they won't take any black bags and will fine you if the lid doesn't shut. They collect household waste every 2 weeks (we have 2 in nappies so qualify for the bigger bin although once baby is here we'll be able to keep it permanently due to being 6+ people, living the dream! ) and recycling is taken once a week. I'm envious of areas that have separate recycling bins for glass, paper etc we have two - one of glass and paper and cans and plastic, or something like that.
Dizzy Welcome! don't worry about keeping up just see how it goes.
Fluffy we have 5 years and 8 months between DS1 and DD1, 12 months and 2 weeks between DD1 & DS2 and it'll be around 1 year and 7 months for DS2 and DC4. I've learnt to be much more laid back/have lower standards and go from there really. I wish DC2 & DC3 were twins sometimes as we get asked often enough if they are!
We need to sort out our green bin, it's stuck in the garden and too heavy to budge and full of soil which I didn't realise wasn't allowed so we're hiring a small company to empty to it, as I've been saying for the past year or so....