Two Things Challenge - Paper / Plastic

Sunday is now Two Things Challenge day for me. It's nice to have to think about what to photograph (if you know what I mean!) and how best to come up with something original for the subject. Basically, I'm enjoying the challenge!

As you can see today's two photos aren't that attractive but they show an important part of life. These recycling skips are at my local supermarket. Most of the big stores have these in their car parks, even though Cheltenham Borough Council do fortnightly kerbside collections of recyclable waste. As well as skips for paper and plastic they also have skips for tin foil, cans, shoes, clothes, books, cardboard and drink cartons. At the moment cardboard and plastic aren't collected so we take ours to the skips. Well, you've got to do your bit!

If you want to join in head over to the Two Things Challenge blog.

These photos were taken on my camera phone.
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Read All About It

The headquarters of Cheltenham's daily newspaper, the Gloucestershire Echo, is in the heart of town on Clarence Parade. The paper started out in 1873 as the Express & Telegram and was the towns first regular source of local news. In 1883 the paper changed its name to the Gloucestershire Echo. The newspaper was bought in 1929 by the Northcliffe Newspapers Group, it is now owned by Gloucestershire Media who also publish The Citizen (Gloucester's daily paper) and The Forester (the weekly newspaper for the Forest Of Dean.) The Echo (as its known) is a good source for local news, as well as classified listings and also has a weekend supplement with a 'Whats On' guide containing reviews of shows and restaurants. In my experience The Echo don't always get their facts right and it sometimes feels like they try to make a minor story into something as important as the end of the world! That's local media, I suppose!

First Past The Post

The National Hunt Festival starts today at Cheltenham Racecourse and its all about the winners. The four day meeting is one of the biggest in the horse racing world, only out done by The Grand National. The event brings 230,000 people to town, wagering £600 million, eating and drinking more goodies than you can imagine. It it big business for the town - every bar, pub and restaurant has boards advertising their offerings, with marquees attached to buildings to accommodate the crowds. The Festival provides the Cheltenham economy with millions of pounds and helps some businesses survive the year. You can't go anywhere in town without the races cropping up, whether its the traffic, the crowds or the atmosphere. The place is buzzing.

I've not been to the races before and unfortunately can't go this year, but to help all you punters out there here is Marley's Daily Top Tip - Sizing Europe in the Champion Hurdle at 3.15pm. (I take no responsibility if you bet your life savings and it falls at the first jump!)

Come back tomorrow for more of The Festival.

Can't See The Paper For The Trees

Just incase you've forgotten that paper comes from trees here is a tree with papery bark. This is variety of Acer, the name of which escapes me, renouned for its unusual bark. The main trunk had its bark rubbed away by eager hands but the higher boughs had a plentiful covering of paper. It certainly stood out from the crowd.