Street cry

As I was getting up this morning I was surprised to hear outside in the street a sound I don't recall noticing in decades, the traditional cry of a rag 'n bone man about his business chanting: "Any old iron!", (dropping down a minor third on the last word), issuing from a loudspeaker in the cab of a small flat bed truck.

We must be proud of civic efforts to organise practical efforts to recycle everything that can be put to another use. Nevertheless it's inspiring to think that small time entrepreneurs have been earning their livings doing this for several centuries, and without them, our towns and countryside would have been far less tidy places than they are today.