After seeing the recycling lorry drive past our row of houses for the second week running, I caught up with one of the operatives to find out why our boxes were not being emptied.

I was told we were leaving our recycling further than 6.5ft from the roadside (he was right: our houses are set back from the road, though our boxes have always been collected from our doors in the past).

I have no problem leaving my recycling closer to the roadside and consider the operatives' point to be valid, but why hadn't they knocked on a door and asked one of us to spread the word there was a problem? My complaint is not against the recycling people themselves but against this perverse British characteristic of going into a huff about very petty matters instead of solving the problem with a few straight words.

I used to consider this containment a redeeming feature of our behaviour in this country, but these days I conclude it is damaging, both to ourselves - in the way we store up stress inside - and to our relations with each other. We really need to talk more.

Adele Browne
Queen's Park Road,
Brighton