I flip up the lid of our rubbish bin, and inside see a flat-screen television or computer monitor that someone has dumped in. Electronic waste is supposed to be processed separately, and our council is quite generous in providing opportunities for free drop-off (electronics, paint, toxics). Yet someone still has decided to take a short-cut; hoping their act will go undiscovered since trash pick-up has not yet occurred.
As I stand there grumbling, I hear a horn honking up the street. I look up to see a sports car containing a stocky athletic-looking guy tailgating another car. Both of them are cutting through the neighborhood street because it's morning rush hour and the main road is backed up as usual. The car in front is doing the right thing - driving slowly because there's a school right around the corner, and children are on the streets. The guy behind tailgates aggressively, and a few houses away guns the gas loudly passing the other car - racing towards the speed bump and stop sign at the other end of the street.
I call the council for advice on the electronic waste, since a) I don't want them to think I know nothing about recycling and have thrown a television in our regular trash - some councils do track these matters and b) I really don't want to deal with someone else's garbage. The woman advises me to remove the television from the bin and (since it's before hours) she will have someone call me regarding its disposal. Later, I see that the bin has been emptied, and an instructional brochure for recycling electronic waste left on our sidewalk. The television is still there on the grass. But I don't want to haul someone else's garbage! The trash collector likely thought the television was ours.
A couple of hours later, as I start writing this, I hear a large truck beep beep beeping backup noise out front. I go out and see a man with no shirt displaying large tattoos driving away in a truck with a large waste bin on the back. The television is gone. I feel some sense of relief that the council is actually working to make life in the suburbs better - and if that guy actually works for the council, that he can wear whatever he damn well pleases (or nothing, if it suits him).
