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March 17, 2004
Skip Alert
Whenever a homeowner in the neighbourhood has some building work done on their house (e.g. new roof - or a home extension) - a large container called a "skip" is usually hired to collect all the debris. Why it's called a "skip" beats me - but the skip is usually delivered to the house by a truck that's specifically designed to transport skips (see picture when you click on the link above) - and is usually left on the street in front of the house that hired it. A week or so later - the same truck comes back to pick the skip up - and dispose of the unwanted construction debris at an appropriate municipal dumping place. However, and I think this a peculiarly British thing, whenever a skip appears in front of a house - it seems to be invitation for other homeowners in the neighbourhood to take advantage of it - and dump some of their own, typically bulky, unwanted rubbish in it. This cheeky act is usually done very discretely - and almost always at night under the cover of darkness. This can be really annoying for the homeowner who hired the skip in the first place - for obvious reasons. For example - a few years ago - my next-door neighbour had his roof re-done - and a skip was duly delivered to the outside of his house the evening before the work on his roof was supposed to start. The next morning - the skip was filled with an old three-seater sofa, an old 36-inch television set, and a couple of king-size bed matresses. Needless to say he wasn't happy - because the skip was full - and of other people's rubbish! It seems that the culprits are *never* people in your own street - they are typically people from nearby streets - or a few streets away. You see, word travels fast when there's a skip in the neighbourhood. These days it's common to see skips covered with tarpaulin - securely tied down at night to deter this sort of behaviour. I smiled as I walked past a skip on the way to the bus stop this morning.
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Posted by jag at March 17, 2004 08:22 AM
Comments
My neighbour has had a skip outside for a couple of months and has been through about 4 loads now. I recently asked if I could put some stuff from my front garden - as a reward for not complaining about the building noise!
Anyway, as I shoveled stuff in, I had to keep looking out for passers-by and had a hard time not yelling, "I asked permission first! Honest!"
Posted by: Lisa at March 17, 2004 04:53 PM
*lol* I guess it's not that much of a peculiarly British thing... I've been witnessing the same phenomenon over here oh so many times. In fact, you could almost make a living on placing bets on how much those heaps of debris and bulky refuse are going to miraculously grow over night every time you're walking past one of these containers ...
Posted by: simone at March 17, 2004 09:18 PM
Hi Lisa: I can fully understand your predicament! Hope you didn't get branded a "skinflint" ! (That's what my barber calls me whenever I tell him about shopping bargains!)
Simone: Hope you are well. I'm kind of glad that it's not just a peculiarly British thing!
Posted by: Jag at March 18, 2004 10:13 PM
Hahahahaha....funny! Also interesting........
Posted by: Shobha at March 19, 2004 07:22 AM