Monday marks the beginning of one of the most anticipated events of the year in my neighborhood – bulky trash collection. For those of you who don’t live here; twice a a year, because apparently we’re such a bunch of hoarders that once a year is not enough, the City of Austin sends around a crew to collect items that can’t be disposed of during our regular weekly trash collection. There are some restrictions – no tires, no construction materials, no nuclear waste from your home reactor, but other than that pretty much anything goes. And go it does.
As with any momentous event, frenzied preparations are taking place this weekend with folks cleaning out their garages, attics and in some cases their living rooms and hauling what they have deemed as having no value, to them at least, to the street. This gives the neighborhood a sort of gritty urban feel (think Compton with Subarus) that appeals to the bohemian types who live here knowing full well that it’s all going to be gone by the end of the week. It’s also an added diversion on my walks as it provides me endless opportunities to judge people, harshly.
There’s always the hope that you’re going to find some hidden treasure, but the reality is that you can only gather up so many worn out pool noodles before you have to push yourself away from the curb and declare, ENOUGH. I did scavenge something once, a little cat statue was sitting at the curb along with several other items that included a statue of a Chinese emperor. Fearing I might get accused of cultural appropriation in my landscaping, I opted to take the cat since I could only carry one of them (they were heavy). A couple of hours later, I went back to get the other statue and it was gone. You snooze, you lose.
And then of course there’s the influx of visitors to our neighborhood. Folks with trucks and flatbed trailers come through before the city crews to collect up items they deem valuable. Mostly it’s metal objects that they can sell at the scrap yards, but they occasionally find items of use as well. I have put out a few things for pick up before and have watched people stop, get out of their vehicle, pick something up and then toss it back down, before driving off in a huff (I’m projecting on that last part). The ultimate rejection – YOUR JUNK IS NOT WORTHY.
I'm Just Being Frank 