On our walk yesterday morning, Olga and I happened to wander past the traffic island where I deposited the abandoned street sign. It's still there, along with a growing assortment of other stuff -- an old frame, a sheet of glass, Mickey and Minnie.
We humans are so funny. We surround ourselves with so much junk that we don't know what to do with it all. We don't want to throw it away because it's still "good," so it winds up sitting on a traffic island waiting for someone else to take it. Meanwhile, we're churning out more and more, burning up the planet's resources, because people's jobs somewhere on the other side of the world depend on making Mickey and Minnie dolls. It's insanity.
That was a cold walk, by the way. It was 41º F (or 5º C) at around 7:30 a.m. It's been chilly overall, here. I keep waiting for spring to start. We have flowers but we don't have warmth.
Work was uneventful yesterday. I heard back from the hospital regarding my endoscopy, or gastroscopy, as they're calling it. (Basically the same thing but more specifically in reference to the stomach, I guess?) It's scheduled for next Sunday, a week from tomorrow. I'm surprised they do gastroscopies on Sunday, but there you have it.
On the way home I noticed this sticker. According to Google translate, it's Italian, and if the M is lower-case it means, "You're kidding me." If the M is upper case, it means, "Jokes on Mars." Given the alien hands I'm inclined to the latter translation, but I still don't get it.
They do scopes and scans every day of the week here too.
ReplyDeleteAs the sign is gaining company there is a hope it will all get cleared soon
I had a Minnie just like that one, found it on a dump site here, cleaned her up and sat her on the mailboxes for a child to find.
ReplyDeleteI reckon it's code message for Martians!
ReplyDeleteI wonder how much stuff will be dumped alongside the road sign before it's moved.
Indeed Minnie and Mickey have come a long way until they reach a pile of unnecessary things in London, from which they look in amazement at these people on the streets, but at least they are together.
ReplyDeleteSoon, the city will have no choice but to clear that traffic island. I can’t believe it’s allowed to get like that in the first place. Mickey and Minnie look to be in good condition. I can’t imagine they’ll be there long. I’m surprised the street sign hasn’t been snatched up to add to someone’s home decor.
ReplyDeleteHere where we live, people put their stuff on the end of their drive, take photo's and put it on facebook, free come and get it. I have done the same it works, not everything goes.
ReplyDeleteThe sign that you dumped appears to be hiding a "No Dumping" sign that includes information about fines. Personally, I prefer to dump in the toilet bowl which I did just a few minutes ago.
ReplyDeleteIt looks as if your sign is a trash magnet! That wasn't supposed to happen.
ReplyDeleteWhen Jessie and I were antique/junk shopping the other day I said essentially the same thing you said- there's so much stuff. Why do we still keep making it?
ReplyDeleteI try to live a simple life so I don't end up throwing out a lot of "stuff."
ReplyDeleteAlso, it means I don't have to clean a lot of stuff!
I think the Martians are here and the joke's on us1
I don't get that sign either! I'll tell you, after dealing with my basement, I really have little desire to buy or be given anything again that one can't consume! Goodwill and others have benefitted from my past!
ReplyDeleteThe hand sign makes me think of a thalidomide baby's hands ... If they even had hands!
ReplyDeleteDid you hear about the restaurant on Mars? Okay food but horrible atmosphere.
ReplyDeleteNot a fan of Disney characters unless they are from the early fifties or forties- I can see why someone left them there to possibly be adopted.They are such a long lasting couple ,in love.
ReplyDeleteI wish hospitals here worked week ends. we wait for procedures while the labs are closed weekends.
ReplyDeleteWhenever I go to other countries, I'm always embarrassed about how consumer oriented my nation is compared to others. I make a concerted effort to not accumulate stuff but I am one of five living in this house and not everyone else thinks as I do. We used to have a neighborhood garage sale which fought this quite effectively but the lady who hosted it is moving to Texas to be with her kids after her husband died a couple years ago. In fact, her household possessions are being auctioned off here in 30 minutes and I'm hoping not much of her stuff crosses the street to my place.
ReplyDeleteI was having that same 'wasteful humans' conversation with a friend a few days ago. We are such a throw-away society. My parents had the same toaster they got for a wedding present 50 years later and it still worked perfectly. I've gone through at least 5 toasters in my life time. I think these days, they are manufactured to wear out.
ReplyDeleteI don't get that joke either.
I know, right? so much useless and stupid stuff. and coffee mugs. does the world really need millions of coffee mugs that no one wants? in some ways I think humans were better off before the industrial revolution.
ReplyDeleteI wonder what should happen to all of the old stuff that people don't want to buy at the resale shops? There is still so much usable stuff for sale but it just sits on shop shelves and nobody wants it. Where should it go?
ReplyDeleteI am impressed by hospital procedures scheduled on Sunday. I am told demand for procedures/treatment is high and unsustainable. NHS/London is making an effort to provide care. The street island is becoming a place to dispose unwanted items. What will be added next?
ReplyDeleteI guess it is most likely that this is a private weekend medical procedure Susan. NHS working Sundays is not the way it works in England.
ReplyDeleteHmmm. I'm still pondering the message on the poster. 🤔 I find it odd that the message changes so much with the capitalization of one letter.
ReplyDeleteLiving in small spaces reorients a person to what's necessary and what's not, says the person who put a rowing machine in a park model. However, we did use it a lot and that's how I'm justifying it. When we contemplate moving to AZ, I am overwhelmed by what we do have in this much larger house, most of it came out of storage. So yes, people have too much stuff, and then we spend money on it taking it from place to place.
ReplyDeleteThe sticker might have been a reference to the endoscopy. It does not sound much fun.
ReplyDeleteI haven't moved for a long time (28 years) so I've accumulated too much stuff. I've gotten rid of a lot but there is still so much. (not all of it mine)
ReplyDeleteGZ: I think the NHS is trying very hard to evaluate patients in a timely manner, and that includes working weekends.
ReplyDeleteRiver: I thought about salvaging those two, but really, what would I do with them?!
Sue: That area has several big bins for community rubbish so a lot of stuff is frequently dumped there.
Yael: I hope someone takes pity on them and keeps them together!
Mitchell: Well, it's a disposal point for community rubbish, so seeing trash out there is pretty routine. Why they use such a public location for that is another question altogether!
Poppy: I've never done that with Facebook but I've done it with Freecycle. It's amazing what people will take.
YP: Thanks for that.
Boud: Right?! That whole area is a trash magnet, to be honest. (Which is why I put the sign there.)
Ms Moon: That can be an overwhelming feeling when antique or thrift shopping. I remember having it decades ago -- and think how much stuff has been manufactured since then!
Bob: I'm the same. I buy very little these days.
Jeanie: Thank goodness we don't have a storage area like a basement to fill!
Marcia: It IS kind of reminiscent of that.
Jonboi: Ha! OK, you win, coming up with a Mars-related joke!
Linda Sue: I'm with you. I have no use for modern Disney. (Pretty much anything after "The Aristocats.")
Red: I'm not sure everything is open weekends. You can't get blood drawn, for example, and I imagine the labs aren't open either.
Ed: I hope you escaped the auction relatively unburdened!
Sharon: Exactly! Appliances used to last forever, and they were made to be durable. Now everything is made to last five years, if that.
Ellen: Ha! YES! We need a moratorium on coffee mug production! I wholeheartedly agree. I have too many of them myself!
Ellen D: Sadly I think a lot of it ultimately ends up in a landfill, even though it still works or is still useful.
Susan: I was impressed too. I think the NHS is really making an effort to see patients whom they deem to be in urgent need of evaluation. (Unfortunately that includes me.)
Rachel: No! It's NHS!
Kelly: I know, that does seem a bit weird. But I don't know Italian so I have to rely on Google!
Allison: Well, a rowing machine clearly WAS necessary fr you!
Tasker: Are the hands saying, "STOP"?!
Margaret: Moving is probably the single biggest determiner of how much stuff any of us has. I've moved every ten years or so and it's kept the load down quite a bit.
Wow, must be trying to reduce waiting lists. They do that from time to time.
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