New neighbourhood passes test, lamps find new home

I noticed my bangs are very pronounced today for some reason. Oh the vanity, thank you blog for that. But enough about me, more about me.

One of my favourite things about my old neighbourhood is the free exchange of goods that used to happen on the street in front of my house. I could place anything out there (furniture, CDs, DVDs, kitchenware, clothes, especially beer bottles) that I didn’t want anymore and next time I checked, sure enough, merchandise would be cleared out, off to a new home. That unspoken agreement and understanding between me and passerby is quite exciting. I even have picked up a few things, though it felt a little wrong at first and I would be embarrassed if the person who put it out saw me taking. But now I have a perfectly good ironing board and a humidifier for my office. My new neighbourhood is quite different – instead of lines of houses there are lots of apartment buildings and not the same tight-knit hipster 20-something vibe, so I wasn’t sure if the same rules applied. I had these two lamps that work perfectly well but I didn’t like how they looked and didn’t need them, sitting in my place since we moved in in November. I got sick of looking at them last night at about 10 pm and put them out on the curb to see what would happen. Taking out my garbage not five minutes later they were gone! I’m thrilled! Neighbourhood passed the test! The same silent social contract still applies.

I like this photograph by Toronto’s Mark Peckmezian:

Mark Peckmezian

Love his work.