Day 7: Left out in the cold

Today was a cold, dry winter's day. Exile #2 had a first solo trip to the supermarket today and finally found out how to buy products without lots of artificial colors, flavors and sweet'ners - 'Natural' is the word to look for (fair enough I suppose) but can any of the UK readers guess what 'vegetarian beans' might be? Yes, Heinz's own Baked Beans, but rather than just being beans it has to be pointed out that there are no sausages or other meat products - it's really just beans and therefore, presumably, only of interest to vegetarians.

Exile #3 was delighted to get all her new winter-wear on and go outside, but it was not her that was left out in the cold, that was the trash and recycling about which we have been give very detailed instructions to follow. "On the night before collection day, the refuse cart must be placed within 1 foot of the street with lid hinges facing your house, keep away from poles, mailboxes, parked cars and other obstacles. The recycling (details provided separately) should be placed on the opposite side of the driveway from the refuse cart." This is so that the driver can "dump the refuse cart without leaving the cab of the truck". Mind you, if the temperatures are in single figures (F) overnight as predicted, I can't blame them.

As I said yesterday, every little thing reminds us we are foreigners here! Tomorrow we will find out whether the instructions were followed satisfactorily.