go dumpster diving

...in the College Town that i live in, September marks a huge exodus / influx of apartment dwellers. Thus, labour day weekend trash day becomes a day when the streets are lined withDumpster Diving Gold
:)

so, i was driving around, perusing the piles & PILES of things lining the curbs (‘saw so many perfectly good couches—wished i could magically pack them up & send them to New Orleans)......when i came upon someone carrying books, records and movies to the trash. ‘Couldnt believe it; stopped, got out & spoke to the guy to make certain he wasnt just about to load them into a car or truck later on. He said no, (for whatever reasons), he just couldnt take them along with him…and seemed glad that they were going to be taken by someone who could appreciate them…(i told him “youre gonna make me cry, watching you part with all these !)

But a great treasure trove: I got the movies: a classic edition of “The Third Man”, “Crouching Tiger , Hidden Dragon”, and a MST3000, along with a whole huge crate of classic records, that included a bunch i’ve long looked for. In the books, i got a “Herodotus: the histories”, a Thomas Hardy & a Franz Kafka – Modern Library editions, a travel book on Italy, several books about movies & movie-making, several coffetable books on “Flemish Tapestry”, “Front Page of the NYTimes 1920-1976”, Catalan Photography, The Illustrated London News for 1930”, etc, etc.

what amazing finds….!

the list:

• one 5 drawer solid oak dresser

• one solid pine dining / kitchen table

• 3 chairs, one ash, needing to be recovered, one desk chair, needing repainting & a minor repair of a spindle-support, and one dark cherry dining room chair, solid, but could use alittle strengthening of joints

• an antique (est 1930’s ?) styled 4 drawer night stand/ dresser, possibly mahogany wood, with glass, pull-knobs & authentic dove-tail joints in the drawers…

like i say, i never can believe what people put out for the trash !

_{photo of the antique styled 4 drawer night stand, prior to restaining}

i dont know if i’d have any furniture
;)

....as i’ve said before, i cant BELIEVE the stuff that gets thrown out around here. I’ve often said that if somebody had refinishing skill, theyd make a small fortune picking up furniture set out for the trash, then selling it right back to the students who trashed it

i dont quite get why people have some qualm over taking an item put out for the trash—why is that so embarassing ?? I think its more embarassing (& abhorent, personally), that we WASTE so much stuff as a country/nation/whathaveyou… And every one of us oughta be doing as much as possible to keep things OUT of the landfills, period. It seems rather symptomatic of the collective stuff-gourged consciousness that people think its somehow beheath them to re-use an old item, restore, rather than go buy some new junk they’ll dispose in another few years…

But i digress…_