They say you should never meet your heroes, but what do they know? A two-year-old boy from Fife has just met his, and by all accounts, had a wonderful time.

Luckily for Harris, his heroes are a bit more accessible than some. The toddler is a massive fan of the binmen that come to his house every week – to the extent that he has a miniature high-vis vest of his own and goes out to wave at them whenever they visit. 

When the council found out his birthday was approaching, they arranged a special stop-off at Harris’s house – and let him sit in the driving seat. 

“He might still have a few more years to go until he can be a binman himself,” wrote Fife Council on Facebook. “But when the crew heard it was his second birthday, they arranged for a special stop-off. Happy birthday Harris!”

From a two-year-old’s perspective, a bin lorry is pretty amazing. As adults we just ignore it and get annoyed when it slows traffic down, but if you put yourself in Harris’s shoes, it’s a pretty cool sight: big chomping jaws on the back and massive bags being hauled into an enormous machine. 

Binmen are easy to take for granted, too. They get up at ludicrous o’clock in the morning, drive to your house and take all your rubbish away. If they don’t turn up, everything stinks and falls to hell. Maybe we could all take a leaf out of Harris’s book and be a bit more appreciative of the people that stop our streets smelling like rotten food, whose efforts go unsung.

(They’re not always unsung – they did get one great song in the Simpsons, of course, featuring U2, but that’s it.)