Tigger was on the early shift today so I met her off the bus at the stop near Safestore. We then put in the best part of an hour sorting through our bags and boxes.

As usual, we divided stuff into Dump, Recycle and Donate to Charity Shop. When we had done, the storage area looked like this:

See any difference?
Photo by Tigger

Do you notice any difference? Probably not but we managed to eliminate one whole plastic trunk like those you see bottom left!

As it happens, the trunk has a small hole in it and is somewhat battered but despite that, someone might be able to get some use out of it. We have left it by the dustbins in front of the house in the hope that the “Garden Fairies”, as Tigger calls them, will spirit it away. We have disposed of other items by this method and we hope the trunk will follow in their wake.

Note on “Garden Fairies”

Disposing of an unwanted item too big to fit in the dustbin is a problem in London. If you have a car – we don’t – you might be able to take it to the Council rubbish dump. Otherwise, you may have to ask the Council to take it away, which they will do, but this costs a fee (£30 for one or two items).

Happily, there are people, those to whom Tigger has applied the epithet “Garden Fairies”, who keep an eye on what householders put out as rubbish and take away items that they want or think they can sell. They will even take devices such as electric kettles and microwave ovens that are no longer working. They perform their labours stealthily but we are grateful to them as their activities have on many occasions saved us the Council removal fee.