Old School

It's funny how ideas get 'recycled'. We're all encouraged, cajoled and in some cases bullied to recycle what we can, dutifully separating our waste items ready for collection. Finding an old bottle along Red Rise Brook , I was transported way back in to the 1970's, when I can remember enthusiastically collecting returnable bottles. We didn't know we were recycling, we didn't know much about the environment, in fact, back them it was just known as 'outside'. We liked outside, it was cool, and we knew that if we could get my hands on a Corona bottle or two and return them safely to our local corner shop, we'd be rewarded with hard cash; I say hard cash as it were only pennies, yet pennies could buy you plenty when you're 8. This bottle must have been languishing, unreturned in the forest for 40 years, as its reward is 3d, old money, and so must date from before 1971 and decimalization. It's survived well.