So there is this strange thing in Oz, where everyone in a neighbourhood can throw out their "hard waste" once a month & the municipality comes around to collect it off the pavements.
Hard waste being tvs, computers, furniture, aircons, even saw a dish washer today.
People chuck it out anywhere from a week to a day before collection day.
But before it is collected, other folk rush about and take the stuff they want. Though, it is apparently done fairly stealthily.
And apparently you can watch as a couch goes from one person's house into another person's home, the next day be on that other person's pavement and be taken by a third person, and bounce about till it finds a home where it fits.
So on our merry walk home this evening, we saw a little tv outside someone's house.
When we went past again an hour later with our hosts' car to collect our pizza, we decided to pick it up. :) We are poor and in need like that. Then we drove around the neighbourhood a bit to check out if there was any other decent "waste" & found a better & bigger tv. As we parked the car to pick that one up too, the owner was busy putting some wooden chairs out, saw us, and scuttled back inside quickly.
We liked the look of the chairs & even went back for those, but that time we walked.
So at 9pm, wearing big jackets & beanies, and my boyfriend with his headlamp, we carried 4 very nice chairs back home, all chuffed to be collecting furniture before we even know where to live!
As he took the 1st chair inside & put it down on the lovely wooden floors of our hosts' house (who are away for the week, entrusting us with their new home), a nest of termites fell out onto the floor!!!!!!!!!!
And the guys scattered very very fast across the lovely wooden floors, into the lovely wooden cupboard, lovely overpacked cardboard boxes that are still around the lovely wooden house... and basic panic broke out for a good hour & a half.
On what is meant to be a chilled Sunday night of pizza & Boag’s Tassie Beer, my boyfriend & I have tried to hunt down every last dumb fast-moving termite. I feel like I have the things crawling all over me & have shaken out every last jacket pocket & corner of my boots & socks & everything. And I went a bit mad with their version of DOOM, while he tried to figure out where the hell we must now leave these stupid infested chairs!! Cause the owner who chucked them is going to drive past this house tomorrow & see them & laugh his head off. We tried to leave them on the corner where there is no owner, but then read later that whoever does that gets a big fine. So we had to go back outside into the freezing dark cold & move them for a third time, back to outside our house.
In the 1st day that our extremely fearful hosts have been away, we have infested their house with termites & possibly gotten them an all mighty fine for not disposing of waste legally.
I feel like my body is crawling with the dumb insects.
I don't know if this post makes too much sense because I am high on DOOM fumes.
And the big tv won't tune to any decent channel.
But it is quite funny to watch my boyfriend trying to scracth his back because he thinks something is crawling up his jacket.
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Written last night. Posted this morning.
And still the dumb chairs sit outside on the pavement. Winking at me. As I stare at them through the blinds.
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We also realised that the skype webcam had been left on. Someone, somewhere in the world, potentially got to watch all of this & its mayhem from the comfort of their own home. Please can it not have been our hosts!!
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