Sidewalk Shoppers

Like many suburban towns, our's collects white goods and other bulky items every other week. You put the stuff you don't want by the curb at night and the truck comes the next day and picks it up. That is, if it's still there.

You see, some people troll the streets the day before looking for stuff they might need or sell. In some cases, they see profit in someone else's “junk.”

Take our case, for instance. Years ago I bought an electric typewriter and a metal table to sit it on. I had barely used the typewriter when I bought my first PC. So much for the typewriter. Both typewriter and table ended up in the basement, collecting dust.

I could not “sell” either to my children or grandchildren. So there they languished until the flood from the 2011 Halloween snowstorm precipitated redoing the basement. These two items had to go.

A neighbor took the typewriter for her young children. All it needed was a new ribbon. That left us with the table.

We put the table on the curb several days ago along with two old wooden cabinets. Tomorrow is pickup day. I was sure some or all of it would be gone by then. I was partially right.

When we returned from dinner tonight the typewriter table was gone. Someone probably saw its value as scrap metal. But the cabinets remained. They'll be gone one way or another by the end of day tomorrow.

Unless another sidewalk shopper claims them first.