garbage day – Things I find in the garbage

I got Karma again today, and I decided to take a walk East of St-Denis for a final look at garbage before I go tree-picking in Kemptville. I should be gone around two weeks in all, so there won’t be as many posts. I’m going to post-date some entries of past garbage I found, so there’ll be an odd thing here and there. Who knows, I might also go out of my way and look for garbage in Kemptville. Never been there, but who knows eh?

Let’s get to it.

Almost everything today comes from this same area on St Joseph near Christophe-Colomb. A couple of guys were cleaning out an apartment and putting all the stuff on the curb. I wish I had taken a picture that showed how much stuff there was total, as there was quite a lot. I feel that this guy may have died, or at best abandoned all this stuff. These two dressers here are quite nice, and the one on the right is a decent antique piece, even if a few handles were missing. I was too far from home to think about that though.

This was what was in the top two drawers of the left dresser. The bottom two had some clothes in it. Some personal stuff, some new dentures in plastic, a pack of flints, and a bunch of coins just casually lying around on the bottom.

Here’s a close up of the coins. Some of them are a bit old, with a 1935 American penny being the oldest. I gave most of these to a friend who collects coins. I like a few and might keep them, or give them away too. I like the ones with pictures of birds on them (New Zealand 1961 Sixpence, Cayman Islands 1982 1p), to add to my small collection of coins with birds on them. That is currently comprised of that 1967 Canada penny with the bird on it – my all time favorite penny.

In these boxes were all kinds of dishes, pots, pans, and cutlery. The guy bringing the stuff from the apartment (who didn’t know who all this belonged too) insisted that there wasn’t anything good in it. I had found some plates though, and he wasn’t too worried about it as long as I didn’t make a mess. He was even helpful, giving me a bag that came in handy later.

I pulled these dishes from those boxes, and a few other things, like a calculator. I remember that my dad had a calculator like that back in the day. It’s a good design. I tried taking it all, but I was too far from home, and it was too heavy. I didn’t really need plates, but there was just about a complete set of dishes, and I liked the pattern on them. There were also a few corning ware baking things and two decent cast-iron pans. I ended up only taking a few things.

I took these two glasses, the plate (I liked that design), and the little vase in the back. There was another glass I brought, but it didn’t survive the trip. I recycled it though, so at least I helped waste a bit less.

I found this pin in one of the drawers. My rough translation is “It can no longer continue like this.” On the edge is written that it was printed for Robert St-Jean, an “agent officiel du Parti Quebecois,” so this pin is probably an artifact from the early parts of the Quebec separatist movement.

I also found this camera tripod. It came in a case and everything. I’ve been looking to buy one, and unfortunately my camera doesn’t fit it, unless I have to buy a mount or something. I’ve never used one of these – does anyone know how to connect it to a generic point and click camera?

This is the only thing I didn’t find in that big pile. I’m not sure if this tin is vintage, or made to look vintage. Maybe I’ll look it up later.

Today’s been an odd, if interesting day. Lots of intriguing and sometimes grisly trash out, and a few people had some things to say. Let’s take a look shall we?

This morning I got up (relatively) early to do some moving work. On the curb in front of the place I was working was a desk, with this piece sitting on the top. It looks like it’s hand-painted on top of a styrofoam mold. On the back is this little history lesson about Bullock (ox) use in Australia (picture below). I get the impression it’s a souvenir from a trip to Australia in the 70s. I ended up carrying this back from Sherbrooke/Atwater to home, a good hour and a bit.

Some woman saw me walking with it and asked about it in French (although all I heard was “peinture.” I showed it to her, and she said “not bad… not bad at all!” in a moderately thick French accent. I agree. I think it looks pretty cool, and I might put it up somewhere in the house, if not my in my room.

A decent looking dresser on St Urbain and Rachel.

This table might have been cool, but it was a bit dirty and the glass was cracked. Might have been a good outdoor table, but I passed.

I found these leather cutouts on St Urbain between Fairmount and St Viateur. Most are were cut in a diamond pattern. Some of them were a bright crimson red, so now I can show proper solidarity with the student protests going on around here these days. I thought they could be used in a cool craft project, so I took the bunch and stashed them in an alley for later (picture below). They were pretty heavy, and I didn’t feel like stopping walking quite yet.

I opened up a bag on St-Denis and found a few decent looking books, some oil, and a decent chunk of change (54 cents, and a 50 cent(avos?) piece from Mexico. At some point when I was looking through these bags a few kids were yelling something at me about me involving the word “poubelle” (garbage). They seemed to think they were pretty cool, and the tone of their voice wasn’t particularly pleasant. I ignored them outright, I’m happy to say. Not even a turn of my head.

This garbage had 5 never-used pens in their original packaging (right hand side). Otherwise, not much of interest.

This bin contained some old-ish papers. Included is a microwave cooking book and a 1994 Major League Baseball All-Star ballot. 1994 is the year the Expos were actually doing really well, but then the players went on strike and the season was cancelled. The next year, as per the tradition of poor Expos ownership, many of the best players were shipped off to cut costs, and the Expos were mediocre to awful for nearly a decade after. It’s a solid bet that this had a big reason to do with the Expos decline and eventual move to Washington. I know I’m getting off topic, but I also think playing in that crappy dome didn’t help. If the Big O’s retractable roof worked, it would have been much more pleasant to watch a ball game. I don’t think Montrealer’s are the type to want to sit in an ugly concrete dome on a beautiful summer day, no matter how much they may or may not like baseball.

A close up of the microwave cooking book. Most of the pictures of the meals were these generic, cop-out drawings that had little or nothing to do with the actual recipe. Occasionally there were glossy photos of decent looking food that was probably not cooked in a microwave. I think microwave cooking was a bit of a fad in the 70s, before people realized microwave cooking inherently sucks.

I found a nice working electric typewriter maybe a week ago, before I started the blog. This one didn’t look so hot. Pretty damn big through. Might get you some scrap metal money, if you have a truck. When I was looking at this, someone came over from across the street and offered me some big metal gates. I don’t really have a need for them (again though, probably good for scrap metal). He was pretty nice, and we had a brief conversation about garbage. He proudly stated that he’s sold a few things he’s found on the street on Kijiji. Welcome to the club, buddy. He had two cute kids with him too. He liked the art I found (last two images), and his daughter said that it would clean up fine. They seemed like a great family: they radiated good energy, and lacked even a whiff of pretension.

Now for the grisly bit. I considered not posting this for a millisecond, but I want this to be a flowery, fluffy garbage blog all about the antiques and awesome stuff you find, without mention of the occasional off-putting grit of the everyday. Anyways, above is a bird cage. The bag was already torn when I got there, and I couldn’t resist the temptation to look inside.

This bird has met it’s maker. The cage didn’t seem too clean, so I’m afraid it might not have been well taken care of. I don’t agree with owning pet birds regardless, unless maybe you have a bio-dome. Being stuck in what is essentially a 2×2 prison cell is kind of the antithesis of a fulfilling bird life.

Here’s the last piece for now, that piece of art I mentioned before. This thing in friggin’ huge, and I’m sure some people were amused watching me lug this thing home. It measures in at a whopping 96 x 48 inches. That’s like 8 feet by 4 feet. The caption says something like “women of Brazil.” I was pretty dusty, but I was pretty sure I could clean it off pretty good. On the way back, a kid asked me if I painted it. I said no. He said it was pretty dirty, and thought it was “impossible” to clean.

After my dusting, it certainly looks a lot clearer. The colors are very vivid, and I like the whole thing in general. There’s a couple of small white marks, and a bit of what is probably water damage, but overall I think it’s pretty attractive. In the end, I guess the little girl and the kid were both kind of right. Now, what am I going to do with this thing?

Check back later, I might have more stuff for y’all.

Category: garbage day

Apartment on the curb

Today’s early returns