Curbside Tubes

Back in the fall, a couple of old tube TV sets appeared on curbs in the neighborhood. The city does not take these with regular trash collection. If a resident wants to dispose of a TV or computer monitor, s/he must go to city hall and purchase a sticker that is then affixed to the item, and the resident must schedule a special pick-up with the waste management company. Sometimes this happens, while other times the set remains on the curb, and the person discarding it is likely hoping that someone else will take it away to use it for parts.

This one landed on a curb down the block and around the corner, and was gone within a day, two days tops. It probably got stickered and carted off. (Toshiba TVs were pretty good at one time, but now they just license the name.)

This one, not quite as large, was right across the street from us on a side street. It arrived at around the same time but lingered. After the first big snowstorm the drifts along the streets were huge, and it wasn't until the snow started melting in mid-March that the set reappeared. Once it got covered by snow I totally forgot about it, but there it was. It's still there today, now face down. If this homeowner's lot did not happen to be on a corner, the TV would be a lot more visible and more likely to be considered an eyesore by a neighbor.