In further evidence that the world is going crazy, we're having gas (petrol) shortages in the UK, allegedly driven by transport problems and people panic-buying fuel. Dave and I don't drive so it hasn't affected us directly, but one of our friends put a message out on Facebook asking where she could find gas -- all the stations she had tried were sold out, and her gas tank was nearly empty. Boris Johnson is even talking about having the military escort fuel supplies to gas stations.
Apparently there have been lots of problems with our trucking industry, given that many of our drivers were from Europe and have gone back in the wake of Brexit. This has had a ripple effect into other sectors of the economy like retail, causing some shortages, and even garbage collection, because many of the rubbish haulers have left those jobs to go into better-paying commercial trucking. Now councils are short of people to collect rubbish.
Crazy times.
Speaking of rubbish, you know how people sometimes donate stuff to our library? Usually it's a couple of bags of books -- some small and manageable quantity. But yesterday one of the building porters came to us and said there'd been a donation and it was sitting down in the school's loading bay. The head librarian and I went down and found this:
That's way, WAY more than we would ever normally want. And it got even better when we opened the boxes.
They were all full of old magazines -- Artforum, Frieze, National Geographic and Vanity Fair going back to the mid-1990s, as well as auction catalogs from Christie's. We don't even save our own old magazines, much less anyone else's! It's a long story how and why the school accepted these boxes -- let's just say there was some confusion about what they actually were -- and the library ultimately kept none of this stuff.
We called in the Art Department, where the teachers sometimes use old magazines for projects, and they accepted a cartload of them. The rest we're going to recycle.
You can't help but wonder -- where did this person keep all these magazines for so many years? I'm guessing they cleaned out a storage unit. And some of them had New York City address labels, which means they must have been moved across the ocean. I just can't imagine. I'm sure the donor was well-intentioned in giving them to us, but I wish people would think a bit more about what's actually useful and what's just plain rubbish.
(Top photo: A shopfront with ghostly umbrellas in Mayfair, a few weeks ago.)
Lucky art department!
ReplyDeleteBut I see what you mean. Sometimes it hurts to go through what you have kept over the years, so it must just all go!!
The art teacher was intially excited about the donation until she saw the quantity of stuff. It quickly became overwhelming!
DeleteThe shop window IS ghostly. That was an ill-considered donation. What a headache.
ReplyDeleteIt must be a nightmare to work in a charity shop and deal with this kind of thing all the time.
DeleteI would have loved to go through these, I bet there were a few interesting one's there.
ReplyDeleteAs for the petrol shortage, I think the Government have more up their sleeves to keep us in fear, who knows what will come next, blackouts ?
Briony
x
There WERE interesting magazines, for sure. Just WAAAAAAY too many of them! I've said this before, but I'm just not sure why the government would deliberately want to "keep us in fear." Seems they would want to keep us happy and content! I think this is all Brexit fallout and they don't want to admit it.
DeleteThere's a wise old saying: "Never look a gift horse in the mouth" - especially when there are thousands of hundred dollar bills enclosed randomly within the pages of those old magazines as well as the last handwritten love letter from Jack Kennedy to Marilyn Monroe.
ReplyDeleteI paged through enough of those magazines to be sure there are no hundred dollar bills. As for Jack and Marilyn, let's let them have their privacy. :)
DeleteWe have a 'Helping Hands' site here, where people give away things they no longer want or come to ask if someone has something they need. I like the directness of it. But what I really am stunned by is that people will put, for instance, an old sofa on it, ripped or worn, in poor shape really. "Good for camp" it says, or 'good for starting out'. What it is is an old sofa they don't want to pay to have hauled away. But I was reading one of those home decor magazines just yesterday, and much to my surprise, someone decorated using deconstructed furniture. Someone had removed the backing from the upholstered furniture so that you could see the springs and wood framing. So what do I know.
ReplyDeleteIt IS remarkable what some people see value in. It's hard to predict! Those giveaway sites are ingenious that way. We have Freecycle here and I've used it before to get rid of stuff.
DeleteThe magazines don't sound as if they are school children appropriate.
ReplyDeleteMinor fuel issues or rumour = media story = media beat up = panic buying = everyone with full fuel tanks = end of problem = too many fuel delivery drivers.
The fuel crunch is a sort of cascade of factors, as you say.
DeleteI try to think very carefully about what I give as a donation, especially clothing or household goods--is it still useful--no rips or stains. Old magazines (not mine--DH has vast collection of car mags that I would like him to recycle) are not something I would pass on. Clearly, these folks--whatever their motivation--didn't give it much thought.
ReplyDeleteYeah, old magazines just don't have any value, except for perhaps a tiny percentage of truly remarkable issues (i.e. the first Playboy). I don't know a single charity shop that wants them.
DeleteI saw a headline that Costco (or Sam's?) was going to limit TP purchases again because apparently that's what we need in a health crisis over here. We had a gas scare a couple of months ago because of hackers. It was just a few days, but it was a little scary because I absolutely rely on my car to get to work. I was imagining that I would have to borrow my dad's Prius!
ReplyDeleteI remember that hacker thing. All the right-wingers blamed it on Biden! (Of course)
DeleteThe house we lived in before this one was owned by a very genteel hoarder. When we bought the house, we couldn't even actually see what we were buying because she had so much stuff but it was all good stuff like sets and sets of dishes and handmade quilts and antique furniture. All just crammed in but rather neatly. In the basement (yes, a basement in Florida) there was a huge room with shelves built from floor to ceiling like a maze filled with neatly stacked issues of magazines going back for decades and decades. Magazines like Lady's Home Journal and Good Housekeeping. Unbelievable! When we sold the house five years later, the magazines were still there and I would not be surprised to find they are still there now.
ReplyDeleteWow -- I'm impressed you lived with all those magazines for so many years! But no one wants to be the one to throw them away, right? They're like history!
DeleteToo bad the donation was so large but not usable! Better luck next time!
ReplyDeleteYeah, this was a truly unusual donation. We get a lot of stuff we can't use but seldom so MUCH of it!
DeleteSome folks think they're recycling by donating their old stuff, but all they're doing is giving their trash to someone else to throw out.
ReplyDeleteExactly. They just don't want to make the decision.
DeleteThat's a lot of old magazines. But it did just give me an idea what to do with our bookshelves full of books when the time comes to give them away... The Library!
ReplyDeleteWe went shopping at our local co-op the other day and a lot of the food shelves were eerily empty. I read of Costco limiting toilet paper sales again. I'm worried about shopping hoarding craziness returning.
Not all libraries want donations, so check with them first! Some libraries sponsor used book sales or exchanges where items can be recirculated or sold to benefit the library.
DeleteSome one was probably cleaning out a house where people had move into personal care or died.
ReplyDeleteI know this family, though, and they haven't died. I think they were just saving all this stuff for some mysterious reason and decided to finally get rid of it.
DeleteThat is a lot of old magazines! I can't imagine saving all of those let alone shipping them to England from New York. That is crazy. However, I do admit to getting a kick out of the boxes from Amersham. I have fond memories of my little day trip to Amersham. In fact, I have a coaster from there sitting on my desk as I type this.
ReplyDeleteYeah, it's funny they used a mover from Amersham! Maybe they live up that way.
DeleteSorry more of the magazines weren't useful to your library. Hopefully, you found at least a few interesting items. Enjoy your day, hugs, Edna B.
ReplyDeleteWell, as I said, the Art Department took quite a bit of it so some of it is useful to them.
Deletedifficult for folks to discriminate trash from treasure.
ReplyDeleteWe all knew that Brexit would give England a headache- more to come, I am sure. Meanwhile, here in dystopia, the USPS is being attacked and made impossible beginning Oct first. Trying to privatize the US postal service is the plan.
Really?! I hadn't heard that! What's happening Oct. 1? I need to do some research!
DeleteI remember the gas shortages of the '70s here; it was a nightmare. We're seeing issues with delivery of foods too although nothing dire...yet. I automatically recycle my magazines because I know no one would want them.
ReplyDeleteI remember those gas shortages too! Yeah, I recycle magazines right away. There's just no point in keeping them. I'm never going to read them again.
Deletewe had several grocery paper bags filled with National Geographics that had piled up. I always seemed so hard to get rid of those. One day I had had enough, they were in my way and I took them to the recycling center. Why didn't the school at least look in a couple of the boxes before they accepted them?
ReplyDeleteIt's hard to recycle magazines because they're often so nice, and of such good quality -- but honestly, what value are they? It's a long story why the school accepted them. Basically they knew we expected to get a donation but this wasn't the one, and they didn't know that.
DeleteThat's quite the worthless donation. I've been seeing headlines about the UK streamlining the visa process for EU truck drivers, so they can unsnag the supply chain. I hope the Leavers are happy with what they've wrought.
ReplyDeleteThe Leavers say it's not their fault -- it's all because the politicians negotiated such a bad deal. They will never accept the blame for their terrible decision!
DeleteHumans Can Be Such A Disappointment - Even Olga Girl Is Shaking Here Head At This One As She Knows How To Problem Solve - Smells Treat, Follows Smell, Sniffs Under Pink Blanket, Consumes Treat, Smells Around For More, And Then Circles Up For A Nap - SEE, No Worries
ReplyDeleteCheers
She is circled up right next to me now! Her world is very stable!
DeleteI've always donated books to our public library's annual sale. It's a win all around. I get rid of books, someone gets to buy them at a greatly reduced price, and the library gets the proceeds. But old magazines? Some I pass along to family members, but the rest usually get tossed. (since at one time our recycle didn't want things with slick pages.)
ReplyDeleteYeah, library book sales are a great idea. Our school sponsors a used book sale that makes money for our parent organization. Not sure any of this would have had any value, though!
DeleteWow that is quite a hoard! Though I wouldn't have minded having a look through them. As for the petrol 'crisis', it was created by the media last week, and I don't think it would have happened if they hadn't gone on about the shortage of drivers last week. I luckily had got some petrol, but have been on the bus a few times this week, because my usual routes and parking places are full of petrol queues!
ReplyDeleteThey were interesting -- especially the issues I vaguely remembered -- but I didn't want them! It's interesting that people reacted that way to the news, though. I think everyone suspects we're on the brink of social collapse!
DeleteI wonder if people use up their gas driving around to look for gas. The magazines are interesting, but who can deal with that many of them? Perhaps a hoarder died, or yes, they were in a storage unit. The things people save are difficult to fathom.
ReplyDeleteLove,
Janie
My impulse would be to simply save the fuel I have and find another way to get around, but maybe some people can't do that if they live in remote areas with no transportation.
DeleteWhen we ran our bookstore people were constantly trying to donate old National Geographic magazines to us, apparently unaware that everyone on earth had kept THEIR National Geographic magazines until they were outgrowing their homes too.
ReplyDeleteMy grandparents had DECADES worth of National Geographic. They also eventually all got thrown out!
DeleteYour donor may have cleared out for a deceased relative or friend...peop;e rarely think that eventually all the stuff they acquire will need to go somewhere...
ReplyDeleteNo, these were in her name, according to the mailing labels. They were just things she'd saved for some reason!
DeleteOh noooooo! That donation is crazy. I feel like people sometimes use "donations" to charity shops and the like just to shove off the responsibility for throwing junk away to someone else. When Covid hit and people were leaving Yangon I got the craziest stuff "donated" to the library-half written in workbooks, PE outfits, recorders (the music ones) and a few DOG BEDS. Come on people! I'm not officially allowed to throw anything away which is very annoying, but at least the school takes things away from me and puts it in storage.
ReplyDeleteI am laughing at someone donating DOG BEDS to a library! LOL! (Maybe they knew you have a dog?) This was without a doubt the worst case of "donation dumping" I've experienced yet.
Delete