Aladdin's Treasure

Every couple of months the local council has a hard rubbish collection. It gives you the opportunity of cleansing the house of all that accumulated stuff that you've hoarded because it was:

a.   Useful but you still haven't found a good use for it.
b.   Valuable but you're not quite sure what it's worth.
c.   Broken but easily fixed.
d.   Items found on your neighbor's rubbish pile at the last collection  that was far too good to go to the tip.

Our local collection was scheduled for the end of this month, but the council in its wisdom has delayed pickup for another few weeks. It's a good thing in one respect - it gives you a chance to add a little more to your pile and lets you hunt for Aladdin's treasure in all the piles around town. And treasures there are indeed. There are washing machines, TV's, DVD's, furniture, lounge suites, beds, car parts, exercise equipment - virtually all you need to comfortably set yourself up if you have the inclination to leave home.

Part of my recovery regime is walking each day to build my heart strength back up. This morning my partner and I took a lovely stroll along the foreshore before crossing the road and heading back towards town along the footpath. And there it was. The jewel in the rubbish pile.  The pot of gold at the end of the rainbow. It was like a beacon of shining light that dazzled my partner's eyes - an old, tarnished, brass wood bucket. Despite my protests, he managed to take advantage of my weakened state and elicit a promise from me to go back and get it at the end of our walk.

Hard rubbish collection time is one of those moments I regret owning a station wagon. Once the back seat is folded down, there is no end to the amount of junk you can fit in. You have to be strong and resist the urge to fill the back to brimming point. So it was with a great deal of trepidation that I drove towards the wood bucket pile. It's funny how after spotting one jewel, other semi precious stones are suddenly visible to the naked eye. This pile was no exception. By the time we left with the wood bucket, we also had a boat anchor (we don't have a boat, but we might one day) and a contraption for adapting a hose to virtually any type of tap.

Our pile in contrast is pretty pathetic and consists of one broken office chair. This favorite finally made the collection pile after one of the supports at the base snapped. Irreparable. We did however, salvage the wheel castors and put them on an architects chair I salvaged off a throwout pile in town.

And the count so far?

1 item out,  4 items in.

Not bad, considering.