We’re moving to Sydney quite soon (at quite short notice), and have been hurriedly trying to get rid of five years worth of accumulated junk. The Squeeze has trundled the shopping trolley up to the church charity bin round the corner at least a dozen times this week. We’ve sent our friends off with bag after bag of bits and pieces. But the very best bit has been feeding the Brunswickian scavengers.
On the weekend we put a range of items out on the footpath with a sign saying ‘Free’. Everything was gone within an hour. Today we put out a bunch of other things – gone within 45 minutes. It helps that we’re not putting real junk out – everything is useful. But it’s an odd collection. The green plastic base thing you put a fresh christmas tree in. Four home-covered couch cushions. A couple of tables (formica – 1, pipe-and-board – 1). The plastic bats from a totem tennis game. Two pieces of wood left over from shelves. A drawer from my desk. An old printer in a box. An old skate board. Everything worked, but nothing was amazing. And everything has just disappeared.
Today I managed to catch a glimpse – an Italian poppa making off with a huge, heavy single futon bed base under one arm, two shelves under another (I kid you not – I couldn’t lift either on my own). A few minutes later he was back with his grandson to carry off the couple of extra things we’d added. The only thing they won’t take is the totem tennis pole. I don’t understand why – it works fine, just needs a new ball-on-a-string (which only costs a few bucks at Kmart).
It’s weird and also eerie. The Squeeze is delighted. I am wondering if I could get them to carry off the five garbage bags full of fabric scraps (choice quilting action here!). But it’s more the male of the species that sports an acquisitive streak. The female (the better target for fabric) is a little less likely to wander the streets looking for things to carry away. But it’s been magical – people won’t come and collect stuff if we ask them, but if we put a sign saying ‘free’, they sneak it away on their own. Fully sick.
