One Man's Junk is another Man's.........
Discussion
Clearing some stuff out of my garage yesterday and I came across two knackered old bedside lamps. Covered in cobwebs and slightly rusted, with battered shades, they were ready for the tip.
The modern convention appears to be that if you leave something outside your house, someone will take it. And so, to save myself the tip trip, I left them next to my gate.
There they sat, for about an hour, before the neighbour's dog, on the return leg of his daily walk, pissed all over them. Their fate now sealed, and the value arguably enhanced, I left them there and went out for the evening. Three hours later I came home and sure enough, someone had taken them. Which was nice.
I'm wondering where the line is. What won't people take? Please share your examples, with images if possible. I'm sad to say I never captured pictures of my treasure.
Internet points and pints for the person who manages to get the crappest item "salvaged".
The modern convention appears to be that if you leave something outside your house, someone will take it. And so, to save myself the tip trip, I left them next to my gate.
There they sat, for about an hour, before the neighbour's dog, on the return leg of his daily walk, pissed all over them. Their fate now sealed, and the value arguably enhanced, I left them there and went out for the evening. Three hours later I came home and sure enough, someone had taken them. Which was nice.
I'm wondering where the line is. What won't people take? Please share your examples, with images if possible. I'm sad to say I never captured pictures of my treasure.
Internet points and pints for the person who manages to get the crappest item "salvaged".
A mate gave me an old radiogram. Some of these come with desirable record player mechanisms or electronics. This one wasn't one of them. I took a few electronic components out and gave the rest to a mate who builds and restores valve amps. The top plate had the utterly horrible record player mechanism attached to it. I left it outside, gone.
Around a similar time someone gave me a car subwoofer and a spare subwoofer box. The spare box was battered and had no electronics in it, it was just a box covered in carpet. The binmmen refused to take it, said it was too big and would damage their dump truck. So I left it in the rain. 2 days later it was gone.
Around a similar time someone gave me a car subwoofer and a spare subwoofer box. The spare box was battered and had no electronics in it, it was just a box covered in carpet. The binmmen refused to take it, said it was too big and would damage their dump truck. So I left it in the rain. 2 days later it was gone.
We moved out of our flat on Fulham Road (so a busy road) two months back. Left a few things out.
- Hoover; bagless jobbie, good condition. Left it out, went back up to get the bin to take out and by the time I came out three minutes later it was gone.
- TV stand; absolutely horrid. Took about three hours.
- 2 plastic baskets; you know the sort, you keep odds and ends from the bathroom in them and buy them new three for a fiver. Came down under two minutes later to find an old lady happily taking them with her on the bus, having spotted them whilst waiting.
Cool story etc.
- Hoover; bagless jobbie, good condition. Left it out, went back up to get the bin to take out and by the time I came out three minutes later it was gone.
- TV stand; absolutely horrid. Took about three hours.
- 2 plastic baskets; you know the sort, you keep odds and ends from the bathroom in them and buy them new three for a fiver. Came down under two minutes later to find an old lady happily taking them with her on the bus, having spotted them whilst waiting.
Cool story etc.
At my parents house, out in the countryside, dad left his old oil tank in the garden after a new one was positioned.
I got a knock on the door from a couple of "types" who were driving by, they wanted it but had the decency to ask first so I called my dad to check he was OK with it, and he said "yes, and there's loads of old bits in the shed they can have too" so as well as that they took some old rusty push bikes, an old tv stand, old bits of greenhouse and a non working rusty Honda C90 that I had bought for £20 when I was 15 to ride around the garden on. most impressive was how quickly they reversed their truck and trailer around the acute angle and up into my parents drive - this is clearly how things go missing so suddenly at times!
I got a knock on the door from a couple of "types" who were driving by, they wanted it but had the decency to ask first so I called my dad to check he was OK with it, and he said "yes, and there's loads of old bits in the shed they can have too" so as well as that they took some old rusty push bikes, an old tv stand, old bits of greenhouse and a non working rusty Honda C90 that I had bought for £20 when I was 15 to ride around the garden on. most impressive was how quickly they reversed their truck and trailer around the acute angle and up into my parents drive - this is clearly how things go missing so suddenly at times!
A few years ago I was involved in some major flood damage repair work. As often happens, the sewers had burst during the deluge & pretty much everything in the affected houses was covered in a mixture of floodwater & sewerage.
The furniture that was put outside on the street disappeared at an alarming rate - settees, dining tables & chairs, even carpets??
It wasn't part of any kind of 'official' waste collection plan either. I sometimes wonder where it all finished up?
The furniture that was put outside on the street disappeared at an alarming rate - settees, dining tables & chairs, even carpets??
It wasn't part of any kind of 'official' waste collection plan either. I sometimes wonder where it all finished up?
My ex brother in law had a Vauxhall Nova that developed more and more annoying problems as time went on, until the point it was an absolute pain to drive or keep. Not wanting to pay to have it fixed he tried to sell it, but found that was nearly impossible, at least for anything more than scrap value. Having spent a fair bit of money on it in the first place, and him being pretty broke, taking it to the scrap yard was out of the question. From this he hatched a plan to try and get it 'lost' so to speak. He contacted several of the shadiest friends of friends spreading the word that there was a fairly new nova with the keys left in a few streets down. For weeks he watched and nothing happened. He even took to parking it in the train station and leaving the door open. Still nothing. One evening in October while lamenting the failure of his plan in a pub beer garden, and accepting that he'd have to either pay a small fortune to fix the car or scrap it, up the street came the unmistakable sound of a thrashed engine, shortly followed by the sight of his little Nova bouncing up the street with three tracksuit and cap clad lads inside. Needless to say he was pretty happy, and stayed in the pub the rest of the night.
This won't be the winner, but some years ago I made a trip to Prague, not long after the communists had been ousted, to stay with an old friend and his wife for a couple of weeks. He was part of an inter-company employee exchange, and getting somewhat stitched up by his employer, was living in one of the old style tower blocks that lined the streets. Whitewashed walls and heating constantly on with no control over temperature (a western decadence apparently).
One of the first things that struck me was how people never put anything of any potential use in the bins. Everything from empty glass and plastic bottles (returnable for the deposit money) to working electrical appliances were placed carefully next to the communal bins.
People even took care to ensure that they didn't leave anything 'new' out on collection days, so that others would have an opportunity later to take it if needed.
Like many I wouldn't want to live on that street, with the downwardly mobile rubbish being heaped near the sides of the road like that, but I was very impressed by the consideration shown by the more successful, to those in greater need than themselves.
It was a time of great upheaval and inequality in the Czech Republic. A day ticket for public transport was around 30p (all services). A local hotel would serve you lunch with a beer in a pleasant little restaurant for around £2, while prices at McDonalds were the same or more than in the UK (and varied considerably according to location). Pizza Hut, the thieving b
ds, were selling Pizza for £7 per slice!
One of the first things that struck me was how people never put anything of any potential use in the bins. Everything from empty glass and plastic bottles (returnable for the deposit money) to working electrical appliances were placed carefully next to the communal bins.
People even took care to ensure that they didn't leave anything 'new' out on collection days, so that others would have an opportunity later to take it if needed.
Like many I wouldn't want to live on that street, with the downwardly mobile rubbish being heaped near the sides of the road like that, but I was very impressed by the consideration shown by the more successful, to those in greater need than themselves.
It was a time of great upheaval and inequality in the Czech Republic. A day ticket for public transport was around 30p (all services). A local hotel would serve you lunch with a beer in a pleasant little restaurant for around £2, while prices at McDonalds were the same or more than in the UK (and varied considerably according to location). Pizza Hut, the thieving b
ds, were selling Pizza for £7 per slice!
Timmy40 said:
I have one as an adopter of one such item, this was many years ago but I still have it. A 3ft long fish tank, complete with lights and pumps, all left outside. All fully working, just needed a clean out. Probably several hundred pounds worth new.
Probably quite annoying for the guy when he came back out with the hose/cleaning stuff to clean his fish tank.
all of it has gone. 
IanCress said:
Here's a tip. If you remove your rusty garden gates to sand them down and re-paint, don't just leave them in the front garden over night. They'll be gone in the morning.
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!Gassing Station | Homes, Gardens and DIY | Top of Page | What's New | My Stuff