Wednesday 27 February 2008

Is it still a symptom of capitalist overconsumption if you found it on the footpath?

My brother and his partner, recent emigres from Sin City, are living with us for a bit until they get a place in Melbourne. This means we have the use of a ute. A UTE, people!! When your usual vehicle is a Suzuki Swift, access to a tradeymobile opens up a whole new world of large object acquisition potentialities.

A couple of weeks ago I bought a Persian carpet off ebay (got it cheap because the seller wrote that it was a Perigen carpet, but that's not the point) and because we wanted to buy a pear tree from the nursery on the way home, we took the ute to Mont Albert to pick it up.

Imagine our feelings when we discovered it was Hard Rubbish weekend over there in Mont Albert.

Before we even got to the Perigen Rug Warehouse we spotted the first pile of preciouses abandoned by the feckless and wasteful Liberal Party voters of M.A. Dorian leapt out of the cab and snatched up a wheelchair off the nature strip and chucked it in the back. "Wheelchairs are very expensive these days" he explained, hastily throwing the ute into gear and accelerating past the party of vultures of semi-professional appearance loading stuff into a Hiace van a couple of elm trees further along the street. Next we got two rolls of garden hose. Then two rather nice picture frames (which I've since used to frame some pictures found in the bin on a separate occasion.) Then we got several rolls of Gutter Guard, five perfectly good hanging basket frames, two boxes of multi-coloured vinyl floor tiles which we're going to lay in the hallway - representing a massive saving of $2000 on the quote I got from a floor coverings place a couple of weeks previously.

It's probably just as well I don't have a ute every day.

17 comments:

Anonymous said...

And I just got Bazlotto, too!

Anonymous said...

There are stern signs up around my block of flats now about how leaving things on the footpath is teh illegal and you can call for the council to come pick up and dispose of your stuff for free. It's appalling, I say.

Stickybeaking through stuff left out is one of the pleasures of city living.

David Nichols said...

It's hard rubbish in Moreland LGA at the moment and very hard to keep focused on the road while driving. Everyone has thrown out a computer.

Alexis, Baron von Harlot said...

Go, Womble, go!

I found two very smart, wool-weave teal upholstered office lounge chairs last week in Thornbury, and will ebay 'em soon, unless I find worthy recipients.

lucy tartan said...

Well done on getting Bazlotto dear.

Amanda, too true. In my area the council doesn't have regular set collection dates so you only ever come across individual offerings. Better than nothing, though.

Everyone was throwing out computers in Mont Albert, too.

Tim said...

Hard rubbish was crap in our area this summer, probably because it was all stuff people had nicked from Mont Albert nature strips last year.

Anonymous said...

Having recently been de-uted, I am overcome with grief & loss on reading your post. Throwing things into the back of a station wagon is not the same thing at all.

boynton said...

Want a bluey with that?

Ampersand Duck said...

Jelos as hell. I love stealing my dad's decrepit ute for the movings of heavy letterpress objects. While I have it I always manage a few clandestine trips to Revolve, which is a bit like hard rubbish day except you have to pay a small fee the privilege. Takes the fun out of scavenging, almost.

Ahh! Destroy Rats! That poster is the love of my life. I will always be grateful to you for it!

Anonymous said...

I reckon the Wombles woulda loved a ute.

Anonymous said...

Hard Rubbish is a bloody good reason to move to Oz.

Anonymous said...

Ms FX had a neighbour up the road say:

"I love your paintings - I have two on the wall"

wtf?

"Oh we got them off your hard rubbish chuck out"

Anonymous said...

btw gutter gard is usless. you'll be throwing it out soonish.

Ann ODyne said...

UTILITY vehicle.
not-for-nothing is it called.

The road from Olinda to Monbulk on HRD had a monitor in every heap, and mattresses were frequent too.

Congratulations on your haul and on your Perigian carpet.
wondering:
Persian Carpets, Iranian Caviar
v. Iranian Carpets, Persian Caviar

Tony said...

Watch out for ute-mates.

"Hey, Laurs, be a champ and give us a hand to get our old double bed and a wardrobe from Warranwood to Yallambie."

BwcaBrownie said...

oh Tony, there is a bumper sticker available, which states:
"Yes this is my ute and No I will not help you move"

From the lion's mouth said...

We got the tiles to re-tile our bathroom out of a skip outside the chemist. I think that saved us a fair bit too.

Also our weber BBQ. And the kids' couch the cat sleeps on. And many other assorted valuables.

It's totally uncapitalist.