It's not vagrancy, it's recycling
So I did it on friday. For the first time, I did it. I moved that much closer to being a Vancouverite. I dumpster dove.
Well, not actually diving. I'm definitely not a professional dumpster diver by any stretch of the imagination. I didn't actually physically crawl into the dumpster. No, but I was walking by the dumpster across the alley from our apartment thinking about how I needed an office chair, and how expensive those damn things are. And low and behold, there was an office chair, just sitting there, right by the dumpster!! And there was a decent shelving unit and a really nice stool there too.
I'm not sure if I shared the whole "I don't need the Soap Opera any more becuase I can watch the dumpster divers" or not. But its true. There is a regular stream of regualrs who file by our dumpster poking through our garbage looking for stuff. I don't know what stuff. Jon suggested that I write them little notes. "Welcome to my garbage. Enjoy. There's something really valuable in one of these bags, but I won't tell you which one! It wouldn't be as exciting if I did" type of thing.
Anyway, friday I became one of these soap opera distractions as I examined and sat in the chair, and pulled out the stool. Some boys walked by and I didn't quite know how to hide my guilt, given that I was actually sitting in an office chair beside the dumpster. But that didn't dishearten me, no. So I courageously set the stool on top of the chair and began wheeling it over to my apartment, where I encountered the elderly couple watching me curiously. It was even more impossible to hide my intentions at this point. So I smiled and said cheerfully "I was just thinking that I needed an office chair!"
The elderly woman smiled back and replied, "and that stool is beautiful. I was just saying to my husband here that I would have taken it if you hadn't. Good for you! It's recycling."
Then they unlocked the door to the apartment building (yes, it turns out they live in my building) and held it open for me, praising me on my environmental awareness.
So there you go. In Vancouver, Garbage is just another shopping center for the environmentally conscious!
Well, not actually diving. I'm definitely not a professional dumpster diver by any stretch of the imagination. I didn't actually physically crawl into the dumpster. No, but I was walking by the dumpster across the alley from our apartment thinking about how I needed an office chair, and how expensive those damn things are. And low and behold, there was an office chair, just sitting there, right by the dumpster!! And there was a decent shelving unit and a really nice stool there too.
I'm not sure if I shared the whole "I don't need the Soap Opera any more becuase I can watch the dumpster divers" or not. But its true. There is a regular stream of regualrs who file by our dumpster poking through our garbage looking for stuff. I don't know what stuff. Jon suggested that I write them little notes. "Welcome to my garbage. Enjoy. There's something really valuable in one of these bags, but I won't tell you which one! It wouldn't be as exciting if I did" type of thing.
Anyway, friday I became one of these soap opera distractions as I examined and sat in the chair, and pulled out the stool. Some boys walked by and I didn't quite know how to hide my guilt, given that I was actually sitting in an office chair beside the dumpster. But that didn't dishearten me, no. So I courageously set the stool on top of the chair and began wheeling it over to my apartment, where I encountered the elderly couple watching me curiously. It was even more impossible to hide my intentions at this point. So I smiled and said cheerfully "I was just thinking that I needed an office chair!"
The elderly woman smiled back and replied, "and that stool is beautiful. I was just saying to my husband here that I would have taken it if you hadn't. Good for you! It's recycling."
Then they unlocked the door to the apartment building (yes, it turns out they live in my building) and held it open for me, praising me on my environmental awareness.
So there you go. In Vancouver, Garbage is just another shopping center for the environmentally conscious!
posted by mudget at 5:46 PM
4 Comments:
This was your best story yet! I laughed quite a bit!
P.S. Allegory, Montessori, and a new one: whorey.
are we rhyming here?
Allegory, Montessori, whorey... /corey
btw: Vancouver really does rock, doesn't it?
come visit and I'll let you swim in all the garbage bins your little heart could desire.
I'm not rhyming, I can't think of anything that rhymes with Corey that can top 'whorey'. hehehe, whorey.
you should have gone back for the shelves.
And I too find the mental image of you sitting and twirling on a chair in the middle of an alley quite amusing too...I love it!
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