Garbage Now and Then

 When you've lived a long time, you have dumped a lot of garbage in your day. There was a time when garbage went into a kitchen bin taken out by Dad when it got beyond Mom's tolerance for odor. Dad put it into the "can". Those were the days of yore. We didn't call it trash then.  It was simply The Garbage. Mysterious folks came along in the early hours, absconded with it and left the empty bins at the side of the road. The local dog who collected can lids often took ours, but eventually the lid found its way back. Perhaps it was run over and misshapen but it remained able to pretend as a lid. The lid, although flattened, continued in its use but was now ineffective in keeping out the raccoons. Putting a large rock on the tin meant only that the raccoons would tip it over and the world could then see everything about your secret life. Everyone passing knew what you ate and everything else at a glance. The only way to discourage the raccoons was to keep your cans in the garage until garbage day or get a large vicious dog. Garbage day was loudly obvious every week in times when the men who collected it shouted to each other even though they stood inches apart. They reveled in making the biggest noises they could possibly muster. Today's garbage men seldom set foot on the outside pavement what with dumpsters that do a better job but certainly make twice as much noise on their own. When we lived on the waterfront long ago, the method for dumping garbage, since we didn't have such luxuries, was to row your ten footer out from shore and empty the garbage into the ocean. Most of it was dug into the garden but the rest went on a boating trip and I am not sure even today, if it weren't a better method. There weren't a lot of us where we lived and we made sure that to be fair, we filled the bottles and cans with water before watching them descend down into the inky blackness. The water was so deep we didn't know where that was. No one seemed to think it was wrong. The water system hadn't "come in" yet and every one had wells. When the water did "come in", we all began filling our wells with the garbage. Everything went into the old wells which hadn't provided very good water in the first place. It didn't take long to fill up wells because everything including small pieces of furniture and other household detritus went in with the wet garbage. If someone dug the wells up today, they would be the middens of our times. Garbage now has become a rather exclusive commodity. Where I live, the trash is a vital matter and everyone must do long division. The wets, the paper, the glass and plastic and anything else has  the correct bins. The regular garbage whatever that is, goes into the dumpster. The dumpster lid is so heavy that only Charles Atlas could manage to open it, therefore, it is propped up precariously with an old tree branch.  It has become a social event putting the garbage into the various basement bins. The composting bin smells very strong, the paper one is pregnant with on-line purchasing cardboard, while the bottle boxes have are the most interesting scents. Condo status is determined largely by their liquor and wine bottles. Not everyone is very ambitious about rinsing cans and bottles and the alcohol fumes can be rather overwhelming in that area by the time the trash men come along. On a designated day, early in the morning some invisible people come and thunderously roll the bins out to the street along with all of the other invisibles up and down the street who line them up at the curb. Occasionally, the infamous black Mercedes Benz woman comes along with her bottle grabber and goes upside down in the bins taking out with what she can to stuff her nice black vehicle before driving off. She isn't supposed to do this, but so far she remains elusive. I guess it helps her with the luxury car payments. The other day, I bought a cute little pink garbage container for my kitchen. The lid opens when I come near and when I shut the under sink cupboard door presumably it closes. It's a bit like the fridge fairy that turns the lights off and on therefore, I have not been able to catch the closing of the lid. It happens only when the door closes. I guess. Garbage has come a long way.