Well, well, well, well, well!
Went to the local council offices the other day to get the rates put into my name. It had been since Mum died in 'The Late Estate of Zaiga and so forth' and since I have finalised the Will 18 months earlier than required, this meant there are many changes to be made.
Very excitment!
While there, I enquired when the next hard rubbish collection was slated. I cannot tell you the enthusiasm of the said council receptionist had, other than to drone.. '... youuu willll beee sent a noticeeee soooon...'!
I mean, there I am, standing in front of her, flabberghasted that she couldn't look up a list to say such and such a date for that address of which I had said out loud. I looked behind me to check if she was distracted by some event happing, but no, nothing and I looked at her and asked politely once more '... whennnn issss theee nexxxt harrrrd rubbbbbish collection going to beeee for such and such an addresssss.....'. At this point my over enthusiastic receptionist just keeps looking at me and we continue to stare at each other.
I won.
Finally, after a lifetime of minutes, she looks to her computer ever so slowly (this is a passive aggressive tactic) and types in the address and then states.... '.... it will be 11 August....'...!!!!!
Ye gads, that is only 4 weeks away ... when the hell were they going to notify the residants... I need time to prepare... time to ask and organise help... no wonder many places complain about the council to the council... now there's an oxymoron if I ever heard one... complaining to the very people you are complaining about!
OK. There we have it. I am now officially sent into a tailspin.
The reason why is I have a show that I am working on being held next week, which will take me at least a week to recover from and that weekend was to be my recouperating weekend, which now has gone with the wind.
I need time to digest, think, strategies, organise and then put into action all that I plan and have to do to take advantage of the 'ONE AND ONLY' hard rubbish collections for the year.
Lucky I asked!
I mean, I missed the last one and cannot afford to miss this one. Well, I think I did.
I really want to stop looking like 'steptoe and son' personified. It all takes time and also money of which I have very little of both right now. So this hard rubbish collection is important not to miss. On the 4th and 5th of August I will try and get some strong pals to come along and help me get the gear on the front nature strip in a neat and tidy fashion. I may even be able to get some to help with pruning as well while we are at it.
Yet another step closer to my final vision.
In the meantime, my daughter helped me last weekend clearing out the entire junk in the laundry and I did a cursory cull behind the cupboard doors as well. At the very top, which is very high up were some air bagged blankets that my Mum insisted on keeping and my friend Sue and I had placed now just over 5 years ago while Mum was with us just before she went into palliative care.
Aija just didn't have the heart to deal with this right now as one of the blankets was my Mum and Grandmum's blanket from the German Displaced Person's Camp they were in that they had stitched together to make a quilt of sorts. I plan to go to the Immigration Museum here in Melbourne CBD and see if they are interested in having it along with pictures of my Mum and Grandmum in said camp era. There is also a crochetted blanket from my sister Sylvia she gave me a long time ago. It is Queen size with black border and multi colour internal squares, which I shall keep. Apart from those the rest can go to the Sallies.
I did take a photo of Aija helping me as she looked so funny with her makeshift face protector from dust. But I am banned from showing it as I was told there would be dire consequences if I did. I did take some without her in them and will share next time with you all.
Sue has since offered to help me get them down as she is much taller than me to make space for the chrissy tree plus decorations and things like those other once a year items such as camping gear etc.
I now have the 3 baskets set up to place the dirty washing in as you go and only have put back into the laundry what belongs in the laundry. Due to this it made more room in the lounge room and corridor. We were left with 4 huge garden rubbish bin bags full to the brim and one for the Sallies and some for eBay. All now under the ever growing carport spillage. Most of which has to be placed on the nature strip for the hard rubbish collection.
This eBay pile is getting bigger by the minute as we;; and I will have to make time to place on either eBay or Gumtree to get that moving out to fund the much needed home repairs. But finding that precious time is proving more difficult than I would like.
All this work I am doing is snowballing into more work!
Now how does that work?
This working 5 days a week is doing my head and strength in. It has been 2 months now and am still not yet in a proper routine.
But all this pain will be all worth it in the end.
In the meantime, one of my 'new' pals calls me last week in tears.
It turns out a 'nice thoughtful' neighbour had complained to their local council, where upon 2 burly council men turn up to her door unannounced demanding to search her property inside and out. Which she declined. Now this is uncalled for if you ask me. I do not know what this friends situation is or how it looks, but I do know and understand at how helpless and powerless we can be at doing anything speedily about the situation.
People in our situation usually don't have the strength physically or mentally or emotionally to do the work entirely on our own and need help and this bully tactics just made matters worse and made her even feel more alone and reclusive. Imagine 2 huge male strangers coming to your door making all sorts of accusations and demands. It would scare the life out of you is what.
All I can say is I am thankful that my neighbours understand the plight I inherited and was placed in and have been extremely supportive ever since. I mean, not even robbers have bothered to look at my junk. Like I said, I am not sure to be glad about that or highly insulted!
It would be nice if this so called 'do gooder' neighbour saw and recognised her struggle and offered to lend a hand or a shoulder rather than this underhanded and outright nasty behaviour of hiding behind a 'letter of complaint' cloaked in secrecy!
I am not able to do much for my friend who lives in another state, but I sure as hell can lend my emotional support. I have offered to write a draft letter to the council asking for help as these men have scared the crap out of my friend and now lives in fear. I am in the process of drafting this for her right now, of which I will send when I get the multitude of everything else done. But this person I must help.
Life is a journey. How we choose to behave and treat others is a true measure of who we are not what is around us and how it is placed.
And as to how we act, doesn't always tell all what is truly going on inside.
To all the dibby dobbers, I say, just take a minute to think if it were you in that situation and what you would like to happen to you before this was done to you before doing this to another and how it effects them. The time you took to write a letter of complaint or make that call to complain you could have gone over and knocked on that door and asked... 'how can I help you?' ... 'would you like a few hands to assist you at the next hard rubbish collection?' ... 'could we prune some of the overgrowth and place it in the recyle bin for you?'... anything would be better than pointing the finger of scorn.
I know I sound idealistic here and people are people after all, but this would be my personal preference all the same.
I help my elderly neighbour from time to time as I know she can no longer do these things for herself. She has some help from what little family she has, but it is nice for her to see a human soul from time to time as she said once to me that there are days when she sees no one. It doesn't take much to 'think' what one can do.
Afterall, we all live on the same one and only unique planet that we know of so far. We may as well get along.
I know I need help and am learning to 'ask'. I also can see where help is needed and don't hesitate to offer what I am capable of doing where I can.
If we all help each other in a small way every so often, then we would have less hardship for many to suffer.
Here's the drum. I have the Wrokdown show to put on next week, then regather myself and then spend the following weekend getting the hard rubbish out and then the following week a 'friends and family' gathering of sorts. Not sure if I will survive all this!!! May need a break at a resort of some sort. That or an all over 2 hour massage would do.
I certainly have my work cut out for me for the next month. You may not hear from me till after that, but I will be sure to take photos of the process. See Kezza... I took notice.
This is usually how I have operated much of my life...
In the end I will get it done albeit even if it is at the last minute.
Like I said. Life is a journey and I plan to enjoy what is left and leave the stress and angst behind...
Cheers till next time...
Anita
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