i've had things like that happen to me most of my life judy so i know exactly what you're on about
when we lived on skye we were forever bringing items home (including the lumps of coal you found scattered about every so often) we kept them in the shed until needed. many a time a friend mentioned a need of something and quite a few times we'd have a look in the shed and lo and behold there it was, usually had for free due to our walks etc. and of course it went the other way around as well...
skye wasn't an easy place to live financially speaking as it's hard to get regular work there BUT once you get accepted into a community and make friends there you'll find you don't need as much money as the goodwill going about helps you make up the difference
I find this too, I give a fresh loaf each week to neighbours, and they give 12 duck eggs a week to me. A lad kepps me in veg seedlings, so I let him plant his fruit canes in my wood. And so on.....
mochyn
Joined: 21 Dec 2004 Posts: 24585 Location: mid-Wales
Posted: Sun Apr 10, 05 3:11 pm Post subject:
Madman wrote:
I find this too, I give a fresh loaf each week to neighbours, and they give 12 duck eggs a week to me.
Without wanting to sound too airy-fairy; I think this whole "giving and receiving" thing is an ancient human ethical impulse that goes back right to the very heart of civilisation.
Without the basic impulse to cooperate and help each other out, the human race would have fallen at the first hurdle. Cooperation is a vital survival skill! And yes, it makes you FEEL GOOD. Things that enable you to survive like eating food, having sex and taking exercise - they all make you feel good too.
Do you think that the act of cooperation releases endorphins in the brain like those other activities do? Is that what gives you the feel-good factor?
Oh dear. I seem to have failed in my endeavour not to sound too airy-fairy
Do you think that the act of cooperation releases endorphins in the brain like those other activities do? Is that what gives you the feel-good factor?
I'm sure it does. Very young babies take their milk purely because they're hungry - it's simply survival instinct. However, by the time they're about 3 months old, they'll take extra milk if encouraged by the carer smiling and cooing at them; it makes them feel good, so they'll cooperate. Similarly, the instinct for toddlers to grab things and refuse to share can be overcome by lots of praise when they do share - getting the carer's attention is worth more than the thing they've grabbed, which is the whole basis of all these 'Little Angels' and such-like programmes.
I find all sorts of great things. Sometimes it makes me wish I had a car to get it home skips are good too, the amount of perfectly good stuff people just chuck out
jema Downsizer Moderator
Joined: 28 Oct 2004 Posts: 28235 Location: escaped from Swindon
Posted: Fri Sep 23, 05 1:13 pm Post subject:
2steps wrote:
I find all sorts of great things. Sometimes it makes me wish I had a car to get it home skips are good too, the amount of perfectly good stuff people just chuck out
My last street find, was a hovermower from which I was able to get a replacement blade for mine. Convenient as I was having trouble identifying the right blades.
excellent last year we really wanted one of those child seats you put on bikes but couldn't really afford one. Then we found one in a skip al lI needed to buy was the bracket that attactes it
mochyn
Joined: 21 Dec 2004 Posts: 24585 Location: mid-Wales
Posted: Mon Oct 03, 05 8:47 pm Post subject:
And today's find is: a pair of long-handled shears. There I was, at the dump, old chap about to chuck in some codswallop when I spotted them on to[ of the heap. Fished them out, took them home and they're perfectly good! Why do people do it?
Joined: 04 Sep 2005 Posts: 42 Location: Manchester
Posted: Fri Oct 14, 05 10:34 pm Post subject:
I agree with the above, we make a lot of home-made preserves and on the allotment this year people have given us quite a lot of their surplus fruit which they have no use for, so we make jam/chutney out of it and share it with them.
At work I ask people to bring in their empty jam jars etc. and give them a jar of what we've made in return. What goes round comes round.
Not had much luck in skips lately. I found a watering-can which will do as a spare for the allotment. Most of the skips I've looked in have got tons of rubble shovelled on top of anything that looks remotely useful - not very sporting of them, is it?
last year we really wanted one of those child seats you put on bikes but couldn't really afford one. Then we found one in a skip 
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