Brick by brick, tile by tile the debris from the fallen garage roof has been removed to an enormous skip. Some of the contents too. Not everything is suitable for the skip of course; undamaged valuables have been moved indoors and the remaining 'junk' is camping out on the lawn covered in a tarpaulin. Himself also had a little collection of "recycling" sitting on the driveway. This recycling comprised all the damaged metal goods, some mystery scraps of copper cable and a couple of old wrought iron gates. Oh, and a car exhaust, an old metal bumper and a length of old iron guttering.
"I'm going to weigh it in" says he, "metal's worth a lot more these days." I wondered if it was worth enough to keep it better hidden, but to be fair the gateway was blocked by the huge skip.
The enormous rented receptacle was beautifully positioned, perfectly central to the gateposts, leaving just a few inches either side. We'd soon learned how to sidle past it without (much) damage to clothes, but had to stay well clear of the window when the post and papers were delivered.
"Pretend to be out or we'll have to apologise."
We even struggled to get the grandson's pushchair past, handing it over the wall to avoid it being wedged for ever. Surely, we reasoned, our little metal collection was safe? Wasn't it well hidden behind the bush and protected by an awkward manoeuvre past the skip?
No. It wasn't. It must have been a bit tricky and certainly taken two or three people to get it out but metal theives are a resourceful bunch. Surprisingly, they also took several steel crates full of old car parts. I say surprisingly, because I didn't know himself had kept them all these years. After all, the car they were from had been written off about 18 years ago in a freak welding accident.
In the usual way of these things, we wonder how they managed without a single neighbour or passer-by noticing. Thank goodness they came for the metal some time after the jumble sale on the patio had been safely stashed away.
I remember the old "Rag-and-bone man" who, even when I was a child, preferred metal to rags. And yes, occasionally they still had a horse and cart.
Nowadays the scrap metal "merchants" drive past , hanging out of their van windows, scanning the properties, offering to "take that out of your way". Clearly, when there is no-one home they are doing more than offering.
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