as we continue to get the house ready for the move we are generating mountains of stuff that needs to find a new home. trash and recyclables to the recycling center, books to the library, clothes and household goods to salvation army, etc. so every day i fill the car and start making my rounds. this morning i was waiting for my turn to toss trash into the hopper. there is room in front of the hopper for two cars. on the left a old station wagon (remember the ones with the fake wood paneling) with a female gypsy in her 60’s and an old geezer who was likely her dad. on the right a guy in his 30’s with a pickup. it’s well into the 90’s. i’ve got a ton to do.
so in lane one the gypsy starts unloading her car and walking stuff to the hopper. but she doesn’t have trashbags or boxes or anything you would expect to hold garbage. first she takes our an old suitcase that is stuffed but not closed – with items sticking out. now straight out of an i-love-lucy episode the suitcase exploded open half way to the hopper throwing an amazing assortment of items all over. so she puts the suitcase down on the ground and begins gathering up the items and attempting to restuff everything inside. as she is doing this the old timer is shuffling (no joke each foot moves maybe 2 inches each shuffle) over to one tiny item (like a thimble) and then shuffles over to the gypsy and places the item on the pile before shuffling back for a matchbook.
in lane 2 the guy has a large item like a furnace and lots of black trash bags in his truck. the bags seems to made from black tissue paper. he reaches up and grabs the first 2 bags from the truck and walks over to the hopper. he then swings them up and no surprise one rips open spewing nasty trash everywhere. the sanitation guys help out and start shoveling the trash into a pile and the guy is now scooping it up with his hands and tossing it in the hopper. so he goes back to the truck, climbs up into the bed and grabs the next 2 bags. he then decides to drop then on the ground. as expected one bursts open. time to repeat the shovel and scoop. i just need one of these characters to finish and then it’s my turn. finally the mess is cleaned up and the guy is back in the truck. he grabs ahold of 2 bags that are squeezed in between the the furnace and the side of the truck. as he lifts up both bags split open dumping everything back into the truck. the sanitation guys are laughing now. i’m thinking the guy’s turn is long over at this point, but he is now carrying handfuls of trash back and forth between his truck and the hopper.
i had lost track of the gypsies, but was thrilled to see them piling into their wagon and heading off to their jobs at the circus.
i’m unloaded in 2 minutes and on my way.