THE GENTLE thwack of plastic on brick seems to be the soundtrack to many of the homes in Huddersfield this week.

Over-filled bins creaking in the winter weather, their tops gently hitting off the wall of the house as the high winds pummel our festivity-broken bodies as we traipse by.

We pass them on the way to the shops to buy yet more heart-attack inducing provisions or snap up a top that, if you get a fair wind and a gastric bypass, you may be able to squeeze into by that summer holiday you're already eyeing up from afar.

Our grey bin was almost filled up by Christmas Eve with all manner of vegetables that had been discarded in order to fill the fridge with what appears to be mostly pork products coated in either breadcrumbs, pastry or some sort of honey/marmalade glaze.

Any space in the green bin was eradicated by tea time on Christmas Day as we made a human chain and ferried out cardboard boxes and bags full of torn wrapping paper.

Now, thanks to our toddler, the top of our grey bin flips open whenever there's a slight gust of wind and showers the adjacent road with what, from distance and through port-soaked glasses, appears to me a magical burst of snow.

But what, on closer inspection, is a mountain of soiled nappies in their bags, creating a drift that could stun a horse with its odour from ten feet.

These bags sit atop the Christmas dinner waste. The unfinished potatoes, the carbonated roasted veg, that in simpler times we could have used as lumpwood charcoal for any upcoming summer barbecue (before the jetstream shifted and consigned us to a decade's worth of wet summers).

The veg nestles next to tinfoil wrapped packages of left-over dinner meat from the big day. Like me you probably picked up a bit on Christmas Day night and then gave it a shot on Boxing Day, but after that were thoroughly defeated, you mind switching to the legions of pastry-covered items taunting your appetite from the safety of the fridge.

It's all now in there gently marinating for an as yet unknown number of days or weeks to come until our knights in shining armour, the binmen, return to remove the festive miasma.

But what when it's gone? Will it be the diet option? The dreams of healthy living interrupted by the grim reality of January weather, your will eroded by the constant downpours and return to 'normal' work.

Surely you need one last treat before you have to face 2013 and all its challenges. Get outside and throw back your bin lid and rummage. You never know, maybe the sprout and old lager marinade gently dripping onto your leftover bird may have created a taste sensation.

And even if it hasn't then the tang and subsequent bout of vomiting and diarrhoea from the foetid refuse will kick start your New Year diet off a treat!