Cultural Differences.
As may have become apparent I traveled to the UK to visit my grandparents in 1996. For the trainspotters.

During that time I spent some time in London alone catching up with friends. This story encompasses that time.

I had arranged to catch up with a friend in London after she had finished work.
I caught the bus and then train to London and ended up in Victoria Station. I was hungry so I bought an apple there. And then I looked for a bin to throw it in.
& I couldn't find one.
In Australia you can probably walk 50m before you come across a bin in middle of a city. In London in 1996 do you think I could find a bin?
So I put the apple core in my back pack and went about my day.

At the end of the day I'd met her drunk and stoned in a park after she'd finished work. She took me to a nearby pub where we partook in many drinks with her friends.
At one point she asked me for a smoke - I sent her to my bag where she found the smokes & the apple core. She asked me why I was carrying an apple core in my bag. I told her that I couldn't find a bin to put it in.
She very matter-of-factually told me that 'they' didn't have bins in London because the IRA blew them up.
Now I am aware of some of the politics involved.

In Australia (I may be generalising here) most of us would consider blowing up a bin to be kinda sacrilege. Aside from the mess, it would mean that the local councils might "up" their rates to cover 'blown up bins'. And hey, none of us like giving money to our local governments. Right?
On top of that where the fuck are you going to throw your rubbish?
When I was in the UK at that time the consensus was - "chuck it on the ground". In Oz we call that littering & it's against the law.

I'm sure it's changed now. I mean I've got a mate who had a couple of knap-sacks full of rubbish that he wanted to leave around London last weekend. And could he.
No fucking way. What's the world coming to when you can't leave a backpack of rubbish alongside a public street closed off for a big fun run?
(Misery McUglywife an attention seeking sociopathic fuckstain., Mon 22 Apr 2013, 8:56, 26 replies)

mods please step ringofyre for being an insufferable fucktrumpet.

( janet aylia y'all motherfuckers need jesus, Mon 22 Apr 2013, 9:25, closed)

YOU WEREN’T THERE MAN. IT WAS AN APPLE CORE, A FUCKING APPLE CORE MAN AND NO BIN. AN APPLE CORE IN MY DAY FUCKING PACK….MAN!
Culture shock hits people in different ways. I was staying in Holland and there was ham on the breakfast buffet. Not bacon, ham! I remember thinking at the time that this would make a fascinating anecdote one day, but I still spent the next three days locked in a darkened hotel room, crying.
(Brigadier an old boot sitting on a man's face - forever, Mon 22 Apr 2013, 10:26, closed)

Settle
Gretel.
(Misery McUglywife an attention seeking sociopathic fuckstain., Mon 22 Apr 2013, 10:36, closed)

So your story is 'I had an apple'?

( BraynDedd Natasha Kaplinsky's labia majora, Mon 22 Apr 2013, 9:27, closed)

Yes!
Fucking BINGO! You got it!
Well done you. You clever person you.

Chinny.
(Misery McUglywife an attention seeking sociopathic fuckstain., Mon 22 Apr 2013, 10:17, closed)

So how's the mental breakdown going?

( BraynDedd Natasha Kaplinsky's labia majora, Mon 22 Apr 2013, 11:13, closed)

Chinny well
chin you chinny much. Chin's for chinning.
It's chin to chin that someone chins.
(Misery McUglywife an attention seeking sociopathic fuckstain., Mon 22 Apr 2013, 12:32, closed)

STAY ABOUT FROM OUR BINS (or lack thereof)!

( monster munch person, man, woman... camera... TV?, Mon 22 Apr 2013, 9:28, closed)

That's Gold Star material.

(Misery McUglywife an attention seeking sociopathic fuckstain., Mon 22 Apr 2013, 10:26, closed)

Such a shame that
NO ONE WILL EVER KNOW!
( monster munch person, man, woman... camera... TV?, Mon 22 Apr 2013, 11:28, closed)

AHAHAHAHAHAHA. Boston bomb jokes are well edgy.

( Dr. Shambolic je suis charlie, Mon 22 Apr 2013, 9:29, closed)

um
wut?
(username failed moderation, Mon 22 Apr 2013, 9:56, closed)

It was a mixture of RL story and
jks about marathon bombs.

Sorry to be obtuse. May not happen again. For a while.
Or at least today.
(Misery McUglywife an attention seeking sociopathic fuckstain., Mon 22 Apr 2013, 10:25, closed)

because you're sobering up now, right?
your computer needs a breathalyser. for serious.
( janet aylia y'all motherfuckers need jesus, Mon 22 Apr 2013, 10:42, closed)

Dry as a nun's nasty my dear.
I'm comparing my sobriety to the fact that nun's vaginas rarely get moist or lubricated with from sexual excitement.
Apparently.
(Misery McUglywife an attention seeking sociopathic fuckstain., Mon 22 Apr 2013, 12:31, closed)

It drove my ex mad too.
She was Scandewegian and couldn't understand why our stations had no bins, so I had to explain the whole IRA bullshit. I told her to drop her rubbish on the floor like we do but she couldn't bring herself to do it.
I've no idea why they really got rid of the bins -- does anyone know the real reason?
(Me, I'm not... in any way intoxicated, Mon 22 Apr 2013, 11:18, closed)

The bombs WERE the real reason.
FACT: PIRA terrorists would place their bombs in bins because 1: It was thought that placing a package in a bin looked less suspicious than simply abandoning it in plain sight on a station platform or a street.
And 2: The metal from the bin and any metal or glass object in the bin would act as shrapnel thus maiming more bystanders.
( stuj (^(^;;^)^) GO TEAM SPIDERS!(^(^;;^)^), Mon 22 Apr 2013, 11:34, closed)

I suppose that CCTV, plastic bags and concrete bins don't exist then?
I suppose the answer is " Sheer laziness and the will to let the terrorists have a small victory".
I bet they have litter bins in Isreal.
(Me, I'm not... in any way intoxicated, Mon 22 Apr 2013, 11:53, closed)

CCTV didn't, or was in it's infancy, this is the 1970's and 1980's we're talking about here.
The heights of CCTV back then was a huge ceiling-mounted thing that looked a bit like a dalek and was to be found only in posh shops to deter shoplifters.
There were concrete bin holders in cities but not in stations.
And as for 'small victory' The terrorists LOST, they ultimately had to negotiate a peace deal.
Didn't you learn any history at school?
( stuj (^(^;;^)^) GO TEAM SPIDERS!(^(^;;^)^), Mon 22 Apr 2013, 12:09, closed)

I think suj may be correct
however as you have pointed out - with the advent of your country being the most cctv'd place ever and the miracle of plastic you'd think that the borough of London might want to make their lovely city look a little less like a council tip.
At least between Olympics.
(Misery McUglywife an attention seeking sociopathic fuckstain., Mon 22 Apr 2013, 12:37, closed)

Exactly my point.
We make our stations look like council tips to any visitors because two decades ago some terrorists had a short campaign of blowing up litter bins. This is despite the fact that both CCTV and anti-explosive bins were both becoming part of life as the bins were being removed. Even if you pretend that at the time there was no answer but to remove the bins it still does not explain why we still don't have any bins.
I also noticed how half of Manchester city centre managed to get blown sky-high without the use of bins.
As to the IRA losing -- well, as I said they still have a small victory as they are remembered every time someone throws litter on the floor of a station. As it is every foreign visitor to England (don't know about the rest of the UK) is told that the IRA are in charge of our stations.
I ought also to mention that the islamist pricks aren't known for their use of litter bins so since the IRA are no more surely we can now have bins back to be about?
(Me, I'm not... in any way intoxicated, Mon 22 Apr 2013, 13:12, closed)

You're kidding, right?
They took down all the road signs in 1939 to confuse German spies and most of them never went back up, meaning that pre-satnav, navigating London tended to be a combination of guesswork and looking out for kebab shops - as they are generally called something like "Peckham Kebabs" and will give you a general idea of where you are.
( emvee cruor deo cruoris, Mon 22 Apr 2013, 16:24, closed)

you fucking spastic.
I despatched in London for a year and the AtoZ was invaluable. you are talking bollocks, just for a change.
( janet aylia y'all motherfuckers need jesus, Tue 23 Apr 2013, 9:19, closed)

Cutbacks in defence spending
meant that Dangermouse was at risk of starvation.
( monster munch person, man, woman... camera... TV?, Mon 22 Apr 2013, 11:46, closed)

I give up mm
you win.

Penfold has left the building.
(Misery McUglywife an attention seeking sociopathic fuckstain., Mon 22 Apr 2013, 12:29, closed)

Good grief!

( monster munch person, man, woman... camera... TV?, Mon 22 Apr 2013, 13:45, closed)