I love my neighborhood, with the same love that only a mother can feel for her own ugly child. No, we do have not fancy restaurants; originally furnished student cafés; bars that fill at evenings with beautiful young people; cute cinemas; a charming small weekly market; a health food store or what else is needed to make a neighborhood desirable. My district has instead an inexplicable high number of kiosks and hairdressers, three kebab shops and a refreshingly old-fashioned attitude to bulk trash and recycling: Whatever is no longer needed is simply left in my street on the sidewalk, sometimes with nice little messages, but typically only with a casual insolence…

The whole principle is simple. Either a new happy owner for the sidewalk donation can be found quickly or a silent contest of nerves begins. The loser is the one neighbor who gives up and brings the object in question herself/himself to the next recycling yard. This spring I myself was almost so far to either lend me a car and drive the butt ugly chair that was already standing for over a month at my corner to the recycling yard or to torch the thing, when it fortunately suddenly disappeared one night (which saved me either from an annoying car ride or a criminal complaint). But once in a while, there are also small treasures to be found that I can literally pick up at my doorstep. Such like two old street lamps that probably once were used by a house owner as outdoor lighting, and which now enrich my apartment as candlesticks.

The first two lanterns I had to completely grind off and repaint the old coat of lacquer. But that was actually fun for me and the work was definitely worth it. After I showed my white lantern to the tool God, he promptly gave me a third lamp in similar nature, that he had also found as bulk trash, and which only had to be thoroughly scrubbed off.

By the way, if any of you need a white kitchen wall cabinet from the 80s with fragmented compressed wood, I have got a hint where you can currently find one for free.

Dieser Beitrag ist auch verfügbar auf: German