I live in a nice neighbourhood. The houses are big and gardens are tidy. However, if you visit now, it’s starting to look like a ghetto. There’s rubbish on all the lawns: old furniture, dead computers, carpets and cardboard boxes. You can feel it in the air — it’s Hard Rubbish Day!

The first piles of junk started appearing about two weeks ago. It began with just one or two items.

“What’s going on?” mum and dad asked. “Is Hard Rubbish Day coming? How come we didn’t get a notice about it?”

In the next week, piles of junk appeared in front of more houses.

“Do they know something we don’t know?” We were bewildered. Finally, we caved into social pressure and assembled our own pile in front of the house. Our pile has big branches, an old toilet and a broken cupboard.

You’ve got to keep up with the Joneses.