Back in Sydney, one of my favorite times was council clean up time! Mum would drive us both around and we would pull over to the side of the road when a nice pile of junk would tickle our fancy.
We even once wheeled a couch from one end of our street to our house, to the horror of a guy on a bike who stopped to help us!
Call me a hoarder but you will be pleased to know that when Kaushik and I move in to our own place back in Sydney we will have a beautiful green velvet couch, a round breakfast table with orange vinyl spinny chairs, an antique dressing table…..to put it simply I’m set up furniture-wise because of these glorious council clean ups.
Our move to The Netherlands had me wondering (among other things of course) about whether they had council clean ups here and I began having the most amazing dreams about myself coming across a giant stash of goodies outside someone’s house which would have me waking up in the happiest of moods.
I would have this dream about once per week, then a week before my birthday it came true!
Coming home from work on the bus, I eyed off a giant pile of ’stuff’ outside someone’s apartment, just down the road from ours. As soon as I got home, I greeted Kaushik and told him of the exciting news. He rolled his eyes and told me to call him if I needed help bringing stuff home (which I later took him up on the offer).
I rode down to the apartment and saw people bringing more and more things out, so I asked them if they were indeed throwing all of this out and whether it was okay to rummage through?
“Sure, go for it. Just keep the pile tidy.”
“Of course, thanks! Doing some spring cleaning?”
“No, our aunt died. Just getting rid of her stuff.”
Oh…I felt a tad guilty, getting all excited about this deceased woman’s belongings being thrown on to the side of the road.
“Are you sure it’s okay for me to be going through her stuff?”
“It’s fine, it will be thrown out anyway.”
Hmm…I thought about it for a moment….but then came to the conclusion that if my lazy relatives chose to just dispose of my belongings on to the street, that I would be more than happy to have some excited young lady come along and treasure a few pieces of my life.
As another lady going through her things said to me “Imagine that, your life on the side of the road?”
I did imagine it, such a shame. She was certainly a snappy dresser, which I took advantage of. She was also a doctor because an entire filing cabinet filled with old documents and medical cards from the 50’s or 60’s was included in the things being thrown out.
I gave her clothes a wash and as I was hanging them out to dry, I noticed these little additions she made to the clothes: they were tabs of material with snap buttons on them to make it easier to hang clothes up to dry, rather than using a peg. It made me quite melancholy, this simple yet thoughtful addition to her clothes which her relatives wouldn’t have even noticed. I hope she knows that I noticed, somehow.
Here are some photos of what I scored, thank you Geertje, it was much appreciated! (Geertje is what I’ve chosen to call this lady, it’s an old fashioned Dutch name)
My pile of treasure!
A selection of my favorite pieces of clothing from Geertje
Some agendas (an open up calendar/diary) from 1959!
A letter and envelope set
I pinched a few medical cards from the filing cabinet
July 2, 2009 at 11:26 am |
Yes im sure luvvy that she now knows that someone respectfully appreciates her treasures unlike her family who probably just wanted her dosh.
July 2, 2009 at 11:30 am |
“Yoo hoo, its only me! Its a bit like trash & treasure.”
One day you will have some chooks. (Only you know what i mean Saz.)