One Man's Junk is another Man's.........
Discussion
LordHaveMurci said:
Back in my mis-spent youth we used to swap peoples driveway gates just for giggles, felt guilty years later when I realised many of them were probably elderly residents that wouldn't be able to swap them back aqain but at the time it seemed like harmless fun!
Were you in the SAS?How easy is it to move two sets of gates without being noticed?
ApOrbital said:
Not me but a woman near me had a freezer that went bang while she was away she put it outside her house full of rotting food it stank.Maggots all over the place someone took the lot.
I had a fishing mate (well, actually a family of fishing mates, a dad and three lads) who had a fridge just for their maggots - maybe someone thought that was a bonus!Zoon said:
LordHaveMurci said:
Back in my mis-spent youth we used to swap peoples driveway gates just for giggles, felt guilty years later when I realised many of them were probably elderly residents that wouldn't be able to swap them back aqain but at the time it seemed like harmless fun!
Were you in the SAS?How easy is it to move two sets of gates without being noticed?
At night in the days before everybody had security lights I guess it was easy enough, we never got caught anyway!
Managed to move a rotary line of washing from one garden & hang it out on a neighbour 3 doors away too, got a rather nice scar from a nail that time though.
I had an E34 535i Sport in the driveway, rotted to death. One of our travelling friends with a flatbed knocked the door and asked if I'd take £30 quid for it.
I said no, i'd need at least £100, and there are another 3 of them round the back of the house as well. Take them or leave them.
2 Cranes and a Hiab appeared within half an hour, and I was £550 richer (because two had blown engines in them!).
They used seatbelts tied together to lift them (strongest stuff there is, Mate, stuff never breaks.)
It broke 3 times, they just knotted it and carried on!
I said no, i'd need at least £100, and there are another 3 of them round the back of the house as well. Take them or leave them.
2 Cranes and a Hiab appeared within half an hour, and I was £550 richer (because two had blown engines in them!).
They used seatbelts tied together to lift them (strongest stuff there is, Mate, stuff never breaks.)
It broke 3 times, they just knotted it and carried on!
I once left 4 Fiat Cinquecento alloys out in the hope that the quite regular visit from the 'scrap man' would result in me not having to take them somewhere myself.
I got home from work to find one left?!
I also left a broken Mountfield mower out, no joy for a few days.
We then had a skip a few weeks later so I put it in that, gone within a few hours.
I got home from work to find one left?!
I also left a broken Mountfield mower out, no joy for a few days.
We then had a skip a few weeks later so I put it in that, gone within a few hours.
Took a bent alloy off my car once and put it on the drive at the back of the car ready to go in the boot for the scrapyard once I'd fitted the replacement.
Finished the job, stood up and walked to the back of the car to find it gone! Saved me a trip, but I'm glad they didn't come ten minutes earlier!
Finished the job, stood up and walked to the back of the car to find it gone! Saved me a trip, but I'm glad they didn't come ten minutes earlier!
Once had the entire back axle of my Dad's Isuzu pick up lifted from end of the driveway.
Wouldn't have been a problem except for the fact we were ten feet away under the car replacing the leaf springs with the intention of refitting said axle shortly afterwards.
Of course they were lovable transit tipper driving "do you like dags" rogues. To be sure we thought it was scrap! Etc...
Wouldn't have been a problem except for the fact we were ten feet away under the car replacing the leaf springs with the intention of refitting said axle shortly afterwards.
Of course they were lovable transit tipper driving "do you like dags" rogues. To be sure we thought it was scrap! Etc...
I regularly venture down the back alleys in my area whilst walking my dog so do tend to spot items of use others have left out.
Week before last someone had dumped out a girls wooden dressing table, a kids IKEA chair and a load of toys, all in good condition. After putting some on Gumtree and taking the rest to a car boot sale I'm about £50 up.
Made my two year old nephew a very happy chap by finding a deconstructed wooden playhouse, moved it to my parents place and now he has a shed of his own which cost us nothing.
Other finds include, vintage mirrors, pairs of wooden steps and a 1960's West German pot which is worth about £60!
I have been called a Womble...
Week before last someone had dumped out a girls wooden dressing table, a kids IKEA chair and a load of toys, all in good condition. After putting some on Gumtree and taking the rest to a car boot sale I'm about £50 up.
Made my two year old nephew a very happy chap by finding a deconstructed wooden playhouse, moved it to my parents place and now he has a shed of his own which cost us nothing.
Other finds include, vintage mirrors, pairs of wooden steps and a 1960's West German pot which is worth about £60!
I have been called a Womble...
otolith said:
ApOrbital said:
Not me but a woman near me had a freezer that went bang while she was away she put it outside her house full of rotting food it stank.Maggots all over the place someone took the lot.
I had a fishing mate (well, actually a family of fishing mates, a dad and three lads) who had a fridge just for their maggots - maybe someone thought that was a bonus!I recall a colleague some years back needing to replace the engine in his car as it was fubar. He sourced a replacement, fitted it, and wondered what to do with the resulting boat anchor.
He put it out on the street with a "For Sale" sign on it. That saved a trip to the tip!
[footnote]
(Yes, this is PH. No, I can't remember what the car was!)
[/footnote]
He put it out on the street with a "For Sale" sign on it. That saved a trip to the tip!
[footnote]
(Yes, this is PH. No, I can't remember what the car was!)
[/footnote]
Recently left out 3 knackered kids bikes and a thoroughly worthless Black & Decker workmate, all gone within 24hrs.
On the other foot, I saw a chap in the tip queue with two surfboards, asked is he was going to bin them, and then asked if I could have them.
Sold them both on Shpock for £60 each . Tidy!!
On the other foot, I saw a chap in the tip queue with two surfboards, asked is he was going to bin them, and then asked if I could have them.
Sold them both on Shpock for £60 each . Tidy!!
Cat tree - We needed to upgrade to a more robust one as lard arse Moglet snapped the platform jumping on it. I had taken it outside to the car to disassemble & take to the tip. Went inside to get a spanner, came back & it had gone! 5 minutes at most. Who the juddering F*ck needs a knackered cat tree that is not only broken but probably has enough excess cat fur on it off my cats to make another cat out of it!
Edited by shep1001 on Thursday 28th July 06:44
BoRED S2upid said:
Where do you all live? You put stuff outside your garden gates and people just take it? They don't knock and politely ask if they may have it?
That's been the general principal everywhere for many years since the scrap men started circling and everyone complained about the noise they used to make on their rounds.I did actually knock someone's door after I saw a lovely kids bike outside a house - yes it was put out for "scrap" he asked if I wanted other stuff - he looked shocked when I said it was for my daughter.
We have loads of bikes now - never bought a single one and when other kids come over they all cycle around the garden.
guindilias said:
My boss earns £100k a year and pulled a bike out of a skip at the local dump for his 5yo daughter. Apparently it was "Fine once I gave it a clean and pumped the tyres up" - so he gave it to her for her birthday.
Although to be fair my son has a nearly new bike I bought from the side of the road for £20. He loves it.
A guy we know in the states, who is a dollar millionaire after selling his microfiche business, will save literally anything. He made my parents pull over to the side of the road somewhere in South Carolina so that he could retrieve some nasty old cushions abandoned in a hedge.
We thought he was mad. But he just sees some potentially useful foam going to waste. Think he just likes to keep stuff in his garage. Just in case.
Friend I used to live with at uni once rescued a whole kitchen work top out of a skip that had just been thrown in there during renovations. He turned it into a temporary desk in the house we lived in so he had a large area to do his industrial design and prototyping work. He dismantled it at the end of the year but I have no idea what he did with it!
He also rescued a boat load of pallets and bricks and dug some clay out of his parents garden so he could make a Pizza oven. It was that heavy and that wide that you couldn't get it out the garden...as far as I know its still there, now a house feature!
We thought he was mad. But he just sees some potentially useful foam going to waste. Think he just likes to keep stuff in his garage. Just in case.
Friend I used to live with at uni once rescued a whole kitchen work top out of a skip that had just been thrown in there during renovations. He turned it into a temporary desk in the house we lived in so he had a large area to do his industrial design and prototyping work. He dismantled it at the end of the year but I have no idea what he did with it!
He also rescued a boat load of pallets and bricks and dug some clay out of his parents garden so he could make a Pizza oven. It was that heavy and that wide that you couldn't get it out the garden...as far as I know its still there, now a house feature!
Edited by Otispunkmeyer on Thursday 28th July 11:19
Enjoyed reading this.
I'm usually the one who takes stuff straight to the tip, probably only for it to be "rescued." One item I took 6 years ago to the tip was a 37" Panasonic Plasma TV. Think it was worth about £1500 new. It had a failed screen and weighed a tonne. I had already binned all the leads for it but sure enough, a workman at the tip took it off me and he carried it round to his mobile office lol. I'd have paid to have seen his face once he got it home, sorted some leads for it and tried turning it on
I'm usually the one who takes stuff straight to the tip, probably only for it to be "rescued." One item I took 6 years ago to the tip was a 37" Panasonic Plasma TV. Think it was worth about £1500 new. It had a failed screen and weighed a tonne. I had already binned all the leads for it but sure enough, a workman at the tip took it off me and he carried it round to his mobile office lol. I'd have paid to have seen his face once he got it home, sorted some leads for it and tried turning it on
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