krudswap
I have just invented a term for an age-old practice of neighbourly friendliness. Its where you leave things out on your verandah for people to take away, your neighbours to be precise, in return for offers of other junk you've been secretly hanging out for for years. krudswapping is different to another similar process known as kouncilkleenup. kouncilkleenup is where you leave things on your front lawn for any member of the community to plunder. kouncilkleenup is, at its heart glorified krudswapping on a more formal and organised scale, where local government encourages amateur krudswappers to drive around late at night scouring the streets for good krud in a kind of frenzied free-for-all.
krudswapping on the other hand is a far more precise and exacting science practiced by the more cunning members of the neighbourhood. Krudswappers save up their krud and mark it with a specific purpose, to be given to a particular neighbour for some entirely practical reason. Krudswappers are devious, knowing that their offer is unlikely to be refused in the interest of good neighbourhood relations. For there is nothing more offending than refusing to take someone else's krud into your own home. that would be saying that you are too good for their krud you see. So you find yourself willingly and even thankfully accepting krud that you would otherwise never bothered to ask for. And in return you decide to repay their kindness with items from your own home. which are usually ones your neighbour has been hoping for for a while.
It all works out spendidly really. For a trampoline I've been offered a futon, cupboard, photocopier, printer and camera. And I've even got a second lounge setting in the works with another neighbour. And this is all done behind enemy lines you see, because the verandah is off limits to the ordinary kouncilkleenupper. the krudswapper has the advantage of being able to ligitimately walk up to the front door. Its a beautiful harmony.
Now if I can just find a neighbour with a fridge....
krudswapping on the other hand is a far more precise and exacting science practiced by the more cunning members of the neighbourhood. Krudswappers save up their krud and mark it with a specific purpose, to be given to a particular neighbour for some entirely practical reason. Krudswappers are devious, knowing that their offer is unlikely to be refused in the interest of good neighbourhood relations. For there is nothing more offending than refusing to take someone else's krud into your own home. that would be saying that you are too good for their krud you see. So you find yourself willingly and even thankfully accepting krud that you would otherwise never bothered to ask for. And in return you decide to repay their kindness with items from your own home. which are usually ones your neighbour has been hoping for for a while.
It all works out spendidly really. For a trampoline I've been offered a futon, cupboard, photocopier, printer and camera. And I've even got a second lounge setting in the works with another neighbour. And this is all done behind enemy lines you see, because the verandah is off limits to the ordinary kouncilkleenupper. the krudswapper has the advantage of being able to ligitimately walk up to the front door. Its a beautiful harmony.
Now if I can just find a neighbour with a fridge....