(*) A Trip to the Tip

I have such fond memories of going to the local tip [rubbish dump] with my dad as a kid... the nearest one to us was at the top of the ridge, and when that closed in the early 1970's [it's now playing fields... random thought... old car tyres are actually lifting up thru the surface of the grass!!!] we went to the one out near Terry Hills [which is still going!] Back in those days, dad had rigged-up with huge wooden crate/box which sat on the top of the boat trailer, and we filled it up with all the junk and assorted accumilated crap you collect over time, about once or twice a year, I guess. We'd drive upto the tip [it'd cost nothing], and that familiar waft of rotting garbage filled your senses... we'd back the trailer up to the pile of refuse beside mountains of soil, untie the ropes, and start hurling as much stuff as we could as FAR as we could onto the mountain of stuff! When the huge crate/box was almost empty, we'd tip it onto its side and empty its contents onto the edge of the pile... I have fond memories of tossing things seemingly for *miles* out the back of the nearest rubbish pile... and the STUFF that people would throw away! Back in those days scavenging was practically encouraged, so sometimes you'd come back [but only sometimes!] with all sorts of exotic stuff... I got an old wooden chair that way once! Then we'd load the crate back onto the trailer, rope it back down, and wheel around with one last look of the piles of golden-colured soil pushed around by huge yellow mechanical bulldozers covering our collective past, and we'd be gone...

 

How things have changed! When I finally got around to disposing of my old bed matress at the local tip - I was flabbergasted at how *different* it all is nowdays! Let me take a short step back first tho... that horrid old matress did a great job for about 4 years, altho it was like a 5th-hand matress, and had definitely seen better days! The bloody thing weighed a TON, and had the carrying, removal stability and qualities of a sheet of wet paper... trying to get it up onto the cars' roof-racks took a bit of effort... the bloody thing just wouldn't stay in one position without crumbling in a slaggy heap! Eventually I managed to slide it across the bonnet and up onto the roof... once up there it was easy enough to secure it... then, off to the local "Waste Transfer Station" [what ever happened to the bloody "Tip"?!? lol]

 

Well, I haven't been to the local tip here in about... ohhh... 10 years, easily... back then it was like the old tips from my childhood memories... piles of rubbish heaped around huge mounds of soil being bulldozed nosily... you back your car upto the pile, toss it and leave. Well - not any more! These days you drive up onto a weightbridge, get handed a ticket, and are directed to the "Waste Transfer Station" - a bloody big SHED! No piles of dirt to be seen anywhere! Seriously, I drove the car up beside this concrete 'pit' that lined this large tin shed, easily slip and tipped the mattress into it - and that was it! I had to laugh as a tiny little bulldozer with a forkfift grabbed the matress as I watched, picked it up and tossed it onto a pile of other old matresses at the far side of the shed! Then it kinda scraped up the small collection of household watse into a pile into the other side of the shed! And - that was it! No huge piles of assorted junk - and *definitely* no scavaging [not that there was anything worth of even a look that day!] it didn't even have that old familiar stench of a tip! Gagh! Modernity!

 

Then you drive to the weighbridge again, hand back your ticket, and pay the $2 according to the weight... and yes, that old bloody matress, that had all the handling capabilities of a limp defrosted sausage - weighed THIRTY BLOODY KILOS!!! [66 pounds]!!! No WONDER I'd been putting off trying to lug that beast of a thing aorund! By comparison, my new double-bed matress [which is a sheer delight to sleep on] weighs about 5kgs! [11 pounds] - aaahh! THAT went ontop the car no troubles at all when I picked it up!

 

A fun morning... then I went and did the groceries! At least I didn't smell like the tip! heh heh

On This Day...
Born: Peter Yarrow [muso, 1938]; John Bonham [drummer, 1948]; Walt Whitman [poet, 1819]; Clint Eastwood [legend, 1930]
Died: Timothy Leary [LSD, 1996]
Events: "Give Peace A Chance" recorded live in Montreal, 1969; Jap subs in Sydney Harbour, 1942.
Useless Trivia: Water is wet
My Soundtrack: Ben Harper, "Fight For Your Mind"
Footwear: nekkid now - but not for long!
Weather: overcast, foggy, COLD!

Cyalayta
Mallard d'Quackers   :o)
"Excuse me, which way is the stage?" (Audience member, lost at Altamont, 1969)

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