I'm not a scavenger in the true sense, but when I spot something discarded, either of beauty or usefulness, I go to the rescue.
Over the years I've found some real treasures. Last year, just around the corner from our house, I found a large brand new traditional wood and metal Wine Rack, complete with TWO bottles of good wine. Why on earth would anyone throw away such things!
Just yesterday, in the same spot, there was a slightly worn black faux-leather office chair. Nothing wrong with it at all, but not my cup of tea (not that I need one anyway). Someone had a bargain.
At the same time I spotted the above, a perfectly usable, as yet uncleaned, galvanised bucket (with no holes). I was on my way out with Billy, and said to myself that if it was still there on my return, I'd have it. It was!
Again, why would anyone throw away a perfectly good bucket? It makes no sense.
The black lamp in the background was also a 'find'. It has a bulb inside the faux-candle, and works from some type of battery. It needed a slight clean, but was actually working when I found it.
There are parts of the world where people have nothing. They are lucky to own a ragged T Shirt and a broken plastic cup, yet WE treat our possessions with total disrespect. I find this so frustrating.
I hate waste. Go to any large municipal tip, and see what people are throwing away; you'd be shocked.
It is now a society that says want instead of need
ReplyDeleteGimme gimme gimme.
DeleteExactly. And no thought of consequences
DeleteVery odd to throw out wine with the wine rack. Someone must be having a major clean out. I'd get rid of a lot of things like your lamp, maybe even a bucket or two, the plastic ones. But I can't. IF I ever do I won't be buying more 'stuff'!!
ReplyDeleteI've got to the age where less is better. For me and whoever has to clean up my 'stuff' when I've gone
The wine was a mystery. My only thought was it was a jilted girlfriend who'd thrown away her ex's belongings.
DeleteWe have rescued many perfectly usable items from our local tip. The one nearest our old house has a very popular recycling shed where all sorts of goodies are exchanged. Such a shame if any of it ended up in the island's incinerator.
ReplyDeleteWe used to have one here (now closed) that had it's own shop. They sold the most amazing variety of stuff. Visiting was always an adventure.
DeleteWe have a very active "Buy, Sell, Swap" Facebook page for Lewis and it's a great way of getting rid of 'stuff' one no longer needs. The wine in the wine rack is very intriguing though.
ReplyDeleteMy bijou street has it's own WhatsApp page, and a few things do get offered as 'Free to the first comer'. It's a better idea than going to the dump.
DeleteGraham... Cro hasn't tried the wine yet.... possibly!
DeleteWe've actually opened both. One was really excellent, and the other had over-aged, and we left half of it. They were both good quality wines.
DeleteIt's shocking isn't it? I can't bear to see useful stuff chucked away. We live in an area where lots of incomers buy second homes and they're always having skips outside their houses as they rip out kitchens and bathrooms etc or just having a good clearout. I usually pass such a skip on my daily walk and it's amazing what you can find, I cannot resist having a dive in there!
ReplyDeleteI do occasionally take bits of wood from a skip. I refuse to buy wood as if you wait long enough exactly the right bit will turn-up somewhere.
DeleteI could do with that bucket for the water leak in our sitting room! Have you ever seen the BBC prog. Money for Nothing.? The presenter hangs about a recycling centre ( with special permission apparently) and takes certain things that are being chucked out and then a craftsperson does the object up, or turns it into something else entirely and sells it . The original owner gets the profit. It amazes me what people will throw into a skip.
ReplyDeleteYes, I have seen it. Good rainy afternoon entertainment.
DeleteWe had a couple of Japanese Workawayers for a fornight a few years back.... they told us about the Japanese scheme where when you buy something new, you are allowed to put the old item out on the street 36hrs in advance of the large item refuse collection.... and you state whether the item is functioning or not.... most items vanish before the truck comes around and the old item therefore ends up with someone who cannot afford a new one... or if broken, ends up with a "tinkerer" who loves repairing things and possibly sells the repaired item onward.
ReplyDeleteI think this idea ought to be a worldwide scheme, but in many countries anything left at the kerbside 36hrs would be smashed to bits inside 12 hrs!!
But, to have a repository where one could take such items would cover that difficulty....
People do that here. I quite often see items left outside homes with descriptions, and 'help yourself' signs. Nothing stays too long.
DeleteI'm afraid we are now living in a throw away society. There are so many shops that sell things, often cheaply, that people , after getting fed up with something, on a whim, chuck it out and buy something new. There wasn't the abundance of ' stuff ' years ago. My Dad kept everything. His video recorder was held together with rubber bands and one of our early TV's had a knitting needle sticking out of the push button channel changer to hold it in !!!! After he died we found all sorts of things including every broken watch strap that he was going to mend ! He had every manual from every car he owned, every tax disc and every cheque that he had written { if you remember, the bank send back our cheques } Possessions were very precious back then and often hard to replace. Next Christmas I'm going to have a change with the Christmas tree. I am thinking of having a few small Christmas trees in galvanised buckets so I shall be looking out for any discarded ones !!! Sorry for long comment ! XXXX
ReplyDeleteI can't bare to throw away things that are still functioning. I think your Dad was right, we should keep things till they die. Maybe not the broken watch straps though!
DeleteIn a swanky florist in ecclesall road in Sheffield that bucket would be sold for 30 quid
ReplyDeleteI'm asking £35
DeletePeople have so much stuff, it becomes valueless to them, years ago there were no storage facilities, these days they are everywhere, store what you don't use, often you see garages packed with stuff, we live in a throw away society. Being told to pass it on for a new life to help our world is the younger generation thinking, NO, buy good, keep it and stop making crap.
ReplyDeleteWe have a lot of 'stuff' up in the loft, but it's mostly antiques, pictures, treasures, etc. It's a problem.
DeleteToo many Christmas presents, too much money, next they're complaining about inflation and poverty, lack of food, while ordering a few more things on Amazon and throwing something else in a skip and all at the same time.
ReplyDeleteI try to give consumables as gifts, at least that way they don't hang around for long.
DeleteAt our local tip, if you see someone throwing away something you could use, it's against the rules to ask if you can have it. The tip used to have a shop but that closed down at lockdown and didn't reopen.
ReplyDeleteI think that's much the same everywhere.
DeleteThe saying "Waste not want not" is most apposite and ought to be applied to the entire world. They say that in western countries a majority of people throw away a third of the food they buy. This is terrible and shows a devil-may-care lack of responsibility to this groaning planet that has given us so much. Does that sound "woke"? I make no apology.
ReplyDeleteI often hear of people who have their roast Turkey for Christmas, then throw away the remains. Yesterday I also spotted a whole load of crockery; about a dozen white plates, white side plates, and soup bowls. My mind BOGGLED.
DeleteNo it doesn't sound woke. It just sounds like common sense.
DeleteJohn (Going Gently) sums it up nicely too
ReplyDeleteOne man's treasure....
DeleteCro, During that first Lockdown in early 2020, all the shops had shut down except for Supermarkets and Chemists. And because all of our Charity and Antique shops had closed their doors, many of our neighbours were throwing out their worldly goods and leaving them at the front of their houses as nobody would take them away, thus inviting people to take whatever they fancied.
ReplyDeleteAnd from a nearby house I took away a beautiful pair of stone Corbels, and with a masonry drill I attached them to my ever evolving fireplace.
But regarding having too many possessions, I suspect that during that first lockdown, people were rethinking their lives and summing up their priorities.
Although for someone only in their 60's thinking of de-cluttering 'Swedish Style' I find that quite laughable.
Those sound like a real treasure. I would have had them too! Lucky you.
DeleteYou found some real treasures. Sadly, we live in a throwaway society. Even appliances are built to last no more than 8 years. Parts for appliances older than 8 years old are no longer available. The push is to buy new.
ReplyDeleteI do try to buy things that will last, but I'm guilty of buying cheap throw-away clothes. I replace all my T shirts, socks, pants, etc, once a year. They all get thrown away and replaced. However, I don't think anyone would want to save them.
DeleteNow that does surprise me, Cro. That's one area where I am good for the environment and the economy. I always buy the best shirts and shoes etc that I can afford. Indeed my current brogues are ones I possessed to my knowledge in 1995. Perhaps before. I bought them in Hoggs. I bought them by phone in their annual sale. Interestingly they had my feet measurements from the 1970s when I bought my first pair from them. It's astonishing I can recall all that yet I can't recall what day it is!😂
DeleteThat seems wasteful to me Cro. I have t-shirts socks and pants that are at least five years old and some even older. I'm wearing the same winter jacket that I've had for over 25 years now, it doesn't look so good anymore but I hesitate to replace it because I can't find any with big patch pockets that hold so much I don't need a handbag when I go out to the shops.
DeleteI does seem wasteful to me too, but it's something I've done for decades, and I always look forward to my annual throw-out.
DeleteIt's common practice here to put anything that you don't want or need anymore out on the curb. It's gone very quickly. I think there are some people who pick up all this and use it in garage sales... but that's fine. Someone gets some use out of it.
ReplyDeleteI once put a whole PC outside our house, complete with manuals etc, it went in minutes!
DeleteWe post on a local website that we are putting 'x' out to the curb and will remove the post once the item is gone. We provide an address. The stuff goes very quickly. I don't understand throwing away something that someone else could use.
ReplyDeleteWe have something similar, but probably not as well organised.
DeleteI also see so many useful things just walking to and from the shops, but I simply have no room for them, so I leave them for someone else. Often enough things get left so long they are ruined by weather or smashed by vandals. Eventually a council truck takes it all away. Today I saw a folding wooden table with one slat missing and six perfectly good metal outdoor chairs stacked next to it.
ReplyDeleteI would have been very tempted by those chairs!!!
DeleteLiving in a holiday area with a great many rental properties, it's quite common before each season starts, to see the entire contents of whole villas stacked beside rubbish bins. As some of the properties are probably over 50 years old and have never been updated, the tatty furniture and antiquated (probably lethal) electrical goods aren't actually a "find" !
ReplyDeleteThe best things I've found have been decent blankets, which I wash and pass on to the local dog rescue.
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ReplyDelete