I don’t know if you’re aware of Freecycle, but I can recommend it as a cool source of stuff. The idea is that it’s a yahoo! group where people advertise things they don’t want anymore, but can’t be bothered to sell on ebay.
Sometimes people also post ads for things they want, like WANTED: brand new washing machine; but personally I think want ads should be used only for obscure things, like an out of print book; or genuine needs like old musical instruments for children’s lessons, or that sort of thing. I placed a want ad recently for a spider plant (Chlorophytum comosum), because we don’t have any plants in the house, and I know these are easy to look after, and they apparently absorb formaldehyde and other nasties from the atmosphere, and because I just like them. They’re so common that it seemed a bit daft to buy one from a garden centre, and sure enough I had several offers from kind local people whose plants were covered in babies.
I arranged to collect my spider plant from someone who was at work in the local council offices, and on Friday afternoon Bernard and I braved the drizzle, and called in to the smart reception. I remember remarking to him as I went in that it was a jolly nice building, and that our council tax paid for it all. He snored loudly in response.
I told the receptionist that I wished to see Katy Jones in Legal Services, and to please tell her that I was here to collect a plant.
The receptionist gave me a rude, uncomprehending look, and said, a plat?
A plant, I repeated.
A plat? she said again, with another rude look.
A plant, I said, and for clarification, a houseplant.
A houseplat?
I spelled it out: P.L.A.N.T.
Ohhh, she said, with a curl of her nostril; a plarnt.
Fuck you, you soft southern jessie, said I, with a glare.
Reciprocal fun can be had when those soft southern jessies start talking about bread and “batter”.
Freecycle – I’ve used it loads to liberate vast amounts of lovely things to the masses, in an attempt to de-clutter. I’ve responded to each and every email (lots) with utter niceness, re-posted nice things when rude people haven’t turned up to collect and generally been a nice person – with extra nice. Last week I posted my first ‘wanted’ mail (a shovel for clearing garden). I even suggested just borrowing one for two days. Not a single response – i felt cheated i tell you. ‘Nice’ is now OUT THE WINDOW. Concentrating now on being utter cow (easy as have PMT).