A new neighborhood

I decided to get up early today (well, at 8am) and check out the trash day in the Hochelega neighborhood, which does their trash pick-up in the morning. I’ve gone their at night before and there was never much out so I figured I’d have to check it out in the morning sometime.

Sure enough the streets were full of trash. It was nice to explore a new neighborhood, and also nice that there was actual light outside.

I did have a few nice finds. I’m going to start with a few items from last week I haven’t posted about.

I salvaged this cast iron pan (marked “L’islet Canada”) from certain doom. It’s in fine shape, other than the handle which is a bit broken but still functional. I have two cast iron pans as is so I’ll probably give it away on Craigslist.

Outside of an art supplies store on Villeneuve were these old tapes, most of which seemed to be from the 70s and 80s. I saw a fair bit of classical music and some CBC Radio broadcasts. There were a lot that were unmarked as well. I took a few, but I don’t even know what kind of machine would play these, so I’ll probably leave them on the street where hopefully some audiophile will take a liking to them.

I rummaged through an interesting looking bag and pulled out these cool Buddha themed candleholders. They’re pretty nice, but I’ll likely gift them to someone on Craigslist. Also pictured: ping pong ball my roommate found on the street.

A big stuffed animal tossed on top of a trash pile outside of a daycare. Given that it’s a daycare I imagine there was good reason for this (poop?).

Now for the stuff I found today in Hochelaga:

These old encyclopedias from 1931 were sitting in a box along with a book (in many parts) about World War II by Winston Churchill (in French). I took these largely because the covers were gorgeous. It’s really an amazing looking set. Well, not quite a set, as maybe half are missing, but still good. I may just give these away on Craigslist too. Either that or try to get a small sum on Ebay.

Not far away from the books was this old Aluminum Christmas tree made by a company called “Everglean”. Here’s a great read about the history of the aluminum Christmas tree, which I must admit I never heard of before. That link also contains the picture below, which I can’t help but add to my blog.

I think it’s pretty charming! It’s definitely shiny. In fact that might be the shiniest picture I’ve ever seen.

I snapped a picture of this little desk not long before the garbage truck came and took it away.

I came across a box with six of these textbooks. They’re brand new and still wrapped in plastic. Unfortunately, my camera didn’t want to take that last picture (apparently the cold is indeed hard on batteries). They looked pretty modern and 2011 was marked on the box, so I took and chance and brought them home. New textbooks hold their value pretty well.

When I got home I looked up the ISBN number on my university “book buyback” page, where I discovered that they were offering 40$ for the book. 40 x 6 = 240. I was pretty excited and decided to make a special trip. I knew they’d be a bit skeptical, as having six identical books still in their cover makes one wonder where the books came from (understandably).

In the end they refused to accept the books, saying they were “new” which seemed like an odd reason (and perhaps a made-up one). More likely it was because of what I said above, or the fact that I said I found them in the trash.

I returned home and looked up the book on Ebay. Others of the same kind are selling for 75 dollars. I put mine up for 65, so hopefully I can unload them and make a bit more than I would have got from the university to boot!

Until next time.