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| A Suitcase of Rubbish |
This is a slim suitcase containing two issues of 'Rubbish', a periodical published in the UK.
'Rubbish'
Volume 3, part 2
rubbish 1.waste or worthless matter.2.absurd ideas or suggestions, nonsense, from Anglo-French 'rubbous'
'500 tonnes of Mars is estimated to land on Earth each year,' Robinson in Space by Patrick Keiller.
My birthday is in June so this week's wastebasket contains a number of discarded birthday cards. One contained a poem, an extract from which is reproduced below,
The years go rolling onwards
And they have been good to you
A life so rich in promises
Some old and many new
You still pursue ambitions
Seeing what you can become
Chasing near and distant dreams
And always catching some....
etc....
The cards are now covered in cigarette ash and are surrounded by,
1. crumpled packets of John Player Special cigarettes
2. an invitation to the opening of the exhibition 'Likeness: Reflecting Sexuality'
3. promotional material sent by British Telecommunications
4. various sheets of paper, one of which contains a list of friends invited to a birthday party held last Saturday
5. the packaging for ten 4-ply pocket tissues ('Handy Andies')
6. rail tickets (STD, Cheapday Return, one adult, no children, 16 June 1997, 77293, 6.7 UK pounds)
7. something soggy which I daren't examine
This week's wastebasket is a plastic bag from Waterstone's bookshop, Manchester.
1,946 people have visited my desktop on the internet. 2,935 have visited my internet pages on Peter Greenaway. Despite this only 4 people have asked to receive updates on the contents of my rubbish bin. A psychological profile of these 4 people is as yet unavailable.
'Rubbish'
Volume 3, part 3
rubbish
1.waste or worthless matter.2.absurd ideas or suggestions.
'Raskado Fallcastle was a disappointed ship's navigator turned farmer, who privately invented maps from the black and white patterned hides of his dairy herd on the grounds that they would be as valuable to him in life as any other cartographical evidence.' Peter Greenaway, 'The Falls'.
I've had an exceptionally busy month thus far and so have been unable to keep this place as tidy as I would like. There is, therefore, an unusually large amount of rubbish lying around this place. However, it has occured to me that with summer upon us our attention is probably turning away from the drudgery of office life to that led in other rooms of our houses. Perhaps it would not be unwelcomed, therefore, if I were to record the contents of a different wastebasket, at least for this issue of the newsletter? Avoiding the temptation to indulge in any form of toilet humour I hereby list the contents of my bathroom's wastebasket....
1. One empty can of Gillette Regular Shaving Gel (green)
2. Several empty Acuvue contact lens containers
3. The packaging for two rolls of snow white Andrex Toilet Tissue (bought at the special price of UK pounds 1.07)
4. A plastic bag
5. The core of two toilet rolls
6. Lots of cotton buds
7. The packaging for 5 Gillette Contour Plus razor blades
8. The packaging for 4 bars of Sainsbury's Pure Soap ('no added perfume or colour')
9. Several instances of one item I'm too embarassed to mention in a public newsletter.
10. The packaging for the items listed under 9 above.
The wastebasket is a plastic carrier bag from Safeway ('lightening the load')
What do readers think about my listing the contents of a non-office wastebasket: is it, for instance, to be avoided in future issues of the newsletter?
Of the 2,935 people who have visited my internet pages on Peter Greenaway only 4 people have asked to receive updates on the contents of my rubbish bin. A psychological profile of these 4 people is still, as yet, unavailable.
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Peter Greenaway |
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