Charity Shops! They always smell fusty. There are three in our high street and the one in particular smells of sweaty feet. Imagine possessing the altruism and civic minded duty necessary to volunteer your services gratis, with that down-beat pong pervading your nostrils.

Most of what is deposited outside the doors of these shops are placed in a skip outside whereafter they will be collected by the rag trade for a fee. So it is costing the Charity shops money to depose of our rubbish.

All this I gleaned (glean being a nice clean sounding word) from watching Mary Portas Queen of Charity Shops in BBC2 t'other night. A very interesting programme. Mary has fallen on her sword a couple of times already. I can't quite make my mind up about her. Do I like her? Do I not like her? She is dynamic and passionate about making a going concern of these shops. She should remember however that the people volunteering their time are not paid. Time is far more precious than money. And these charming old ladies giving of their precious time, I think, require just a little more respect. Yes they are stuck in the past perhaps, they might be slow and unwilling to embrace change but when I saw what those ladies picked out of those charity bags last week I think they should be paid. And paid generously.

"Time; she flexes like a whore", treat her like one at your peril!