It's heavy item pickup week this week in our district and my neighborhood has gone over the top. In front of every house there are enormous piles of junk. There are unfamiliar vans and big trucks cruising slowly through, stopping to inspect particular items and sometimes throwing an old chair into the bed of their truck. The guy across the street told me the limit was six heavy items, so I have exactly six out there: stove, refrigerator, boxspring, old desk, armchair, and old bicycle. The bicycle and the armchair seem to me ripe for plucking -- it's a reasonably nice bike, just needs some TLC, and the armchair could be cleaned up or reupholstered into a very handsome living room ifavorite. And the stove, too -- I was thinking about putting a sign on it that says "Works" so people would be able to assess it fairly. Actually the desk is fine too. Only the boxspring seems hopeless -- it's queen sized but we had to saw the bottom of it in half to get it upstairs and into the bedroom, and then re-fasten it, so now on the curb its unfastened and not that appealing.
For some reason when the cars and vans drive by I am always rooting for them to stop in front of my pile and decide to take something from it. It seems better, somehow, than just having my discarded things hauled away to the dump. And I feel validated a little bit by the desirability of my junk, which is ridiculous. And I like wondering where it ends up. And, of course, if the private junk-cruisers raid my pile before the official crews come, it means I get to put additional items of junk out there without going over my limit of six. Apparently my neighbors are not too concerned about the six-item limit.
A couple of years ago I found a great old bike in someone's heavy item pile when I was out for a run on heavy item pickup week. I ran home with it, vowing I would fix it up, which of course I never did. And last year I found a teakettle and a chair that I liked. The chair is out on the front porch and the teakettle turned out not to work. I resolved not to take anything home anymore when I was disappointed by the teakettle, but I'm sure on tomorrow's walk there will be something that looks like a real treasure. I am not a yard sale or rummage sale person at all, but heavy item pickup week is a different sort of fun.
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