Very quickly, to the OP, we all probably said the same things when we first started. I know I wondered (in print) how any anyone could shoot 45ft for 9 holes in a CTTH. But now having scored about 60ft myself I can see it can be done (but not by me I hasten to add). So, practice. Oh, and upgrade clubs and balls. If you want to stay 'free', then you can probably get to Master, but then you'll wish you hadn't... stay at Tour Pro at best.
And now to the important part of this thread... bins and whatnot. Wednesday is bin day, but I have to put it out the night before cos they come early (pre-noon which for some people is early), and this week it's grey bins only. Next week it's green bins, blue boxes, blue bags, glass bottles, plastic bottles, newspapers, magazines, etc etc. All seperated, and then they stick it all in one great big truck! Well, they can jolly well sort it themselves in future!
Anyway, Lizzie, do you not have your expensive and especially prepared bin calendar tagged to your fridge with a fridge magnet??? You should treasure it cos, after all, your council tax is paying for it.
Many years ago, the bin men used to come, weekly, to the back of the house, lift a heavy metal bin onto their backs, carry it to the truck, empty it, then bring it all the way back and put it from whence it came. Then some years later (mid to late 70's I think) they did away with those heavy bins and gave everyone large black bin bags. And you also got a cylindrical cage, with a lid, to house said bag. Again the bin men came weekly, took the full bag out of the cage and left you a new one. It was after that the trouble started. The council decided that you had to now put your own bin bags outside your house, at the end of your drive, else they wouldn't take it. But they still had to come to your door to leave you a new one. Later still they decided that it was too much for the bin men to go to each house to collect the full bags; each household had to take their full rubbish bags to a designated spot. I felt rather sorry for those people who got lumbered with 20 full and smelly bin bags stuck outside their house for a few hours! But still the bin men had to come door to door to leave a new bag. Yet despite the depreciating work the bin men were carrying out, the council rates still went up. Go figure! Then some years back they did away with bin bags and brought in large plastic bins, that got wheeled onto the back of the trucks and emptied with the push of a button... two at a time! But residents were still expected to wheel their bins to the top of their drive. Furthermore, they had to be turned around so that the handle part was facing the road, meaning the bin men didn't have to take an extra step to get round it. And if the bin was not on the pavement but simply at the end of the drive, they wouldn't touch it.
Then segregation came in. Now we had to start sorting our rubbish. First we got a green bin for garden waste. I once filled my green bin and had more besides, which I put into plastic bags and left them beside the green bin... on the pavement at the end of the drive. The bin men only emptied the green bin and left the bags, as full as when I had left them. I phoned the council to tell them so and they told me they couldn't take what was in the bags as it was now contaminated from being in the bags! I'm sorry, are you serious??? Contaminated??? It was grass cuttings!!! In the end I had to take the bags to my local rubbish tip... and empty them into a large skip. Why was it not contaminated now??? The council have now gone mad with segregation; we have boxes for glass bottles, nets for plastic bottles, boxes for tins (which have to be washed out first!), bags for newpapers and magazines, green bin for garden waste, and a grey bin for any other household waste... which only get filled once in 2 months as nothing is allowed in it any more! But despite us having to either sort all our rubbish or take it to the tip ourselves, i.e. we're all our own bin men now (or probably called Environmental Engineers!), the council still charge us ever increasing rates for doing less and less!
Lizzie - have you tried screwing down the lid to stop anyone opening it and putting in unwanted items? I understand the bin men won't be able to empty it either, but with it being screwed down there would be nothing to empty anyway.