Sunday, June 4, 2023

Litter and loiter

I don't know if I mentioned recently becoming a part of a local beach clean-up crew. Since May I've participated in just two clean-ups and have really enjoyed it. What?! Enjoying picking up litter?! Well, no, I don't enjoy why we are out there bags and pickers in hand, but I do really enjoy getting to meet other like-minded folk who wish to keep the coastline tidy. 

This morning saw about 25 participants, young and not-so-young, raring to go. In groups of three, we spent approximately two hours scouring the seawall, attendant promenade and parking area for bits of trash, big and small. The bin bags we carried with us are fairly compact, so a few of us needed to return to our initial meeting spot at a nearby cafe for a fresh one. My haul o' junk was about a bag and a half. 

Here are a couple of shots from the day--






Kitted out and ready to go.


***

I know I've mentioned Steve Jobs and his Palo Alto digs once before on here. My brother's business partner, Greg, had Jobs as a client nearly 30 years ago. To his recollection, Jobs was an a-hole (quelle surprise!). And after a wee disagreement between them, Jobs dispensed with Greg's services. Although Jobs' house (I am told his widow still lives there) is no longer one we service, the house directly across the way is one we do visit at least once yearly. Each time I go it's a bit like Groundhog Day (the film with Andie MacDowell and Bill Murray) in that I never remember that Jobs lived across the street, so I'm constantly perplexed as to why there are well-dressed visitors seemingly casing the place. Visitors to the Jobs home usually begin on the opposite side of the road where we are working, slowing moving back and forth all the while looking toward where the Apple computer inventor once lived. Then they progress to standing in the middle of the road (it's not a busy one) and finally graduating to walking up and down the sidewalk directly out front of the Jobs compound. Confused, I always wonder why folk are casing the joint and/or I think, oh, is the house across the street for sale? There's never a 'for sale' sign posted in the yard, mind you. Then I'll say to my brother and Greg: I think there are tourists looking at the house across the street. What's up with that? And Greg will remind me that Jobs once lived in that house, so the visitors are probably people who are, I guess, paying their respects to man behind the MAC. Just a reminder: The house across the way from us is a private residence and not a museum, so I'm not quite sure what visitors are expecting. 

To save you time and energy, should you care, I'm posting a pic of the home for you here. It's a bit of a let-down, to be honest, because when Jobs was still alive, he had a row of fruit trees planted to help obscure the front of his home from lookie-loos. Looks like they are still doing their job! 







14 comments:

  1. Thank you for your clean up duties. I am sad that they are necessary but glad that people step up and out to do them.
    Visiting the Job house is not a pilgrimage that tempts me. In the slightest.

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    Replies
    1. Me either! And you are welcome. It's so necessary, unfortunately, as you rightly mention.

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  2. Your beach clean-up crew is doing The Goddess' work.

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  3. I applaud all clean up crews, especially you folks who go out for hours and do it by hand. Well, with those nifty picker-uppers. As for Steve Jobs house, may they find what they are looking for. I would not go next door to find the man.

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    Replies
    1. I've seen the solo folk who patrol their own 'hoods picking up litter. It's a dirty job (har-har) and I'm grateful to them. -glad to have found this clean-up crew to join.
      Maybe they are looking for inspiration? Hehe. I wouldn't go ten feet to find him either. :D

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  4. I am told that Steve Jobs used to look out of his office window to see the first and last of his employees to leave every night. This led to people competing with each other to be the last and staying until midnight or later. I can't see that boosting productivity.

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  5. I've done litter picks in our village. It is astonishing what you find beside the main road thrown out of cars. Why don't the selfish dirty b-----ds just take it home.

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    1. It's truly bizarre. At the first clean-up I found a used syringe. Of course, one is instructed not to pick it up, but rather to phone the local helpline in order for someone from the city to come and retrieve it. Meanwhile it's on the beach promenade where anyone could touch it, step on it, etc.

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  6. It always amazes me how much trash people just blithely toss aside, not bothering to find a trash can for. And I never got the whole lookee loo thing. It's a house. What's the big deal?

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    Replies
    1. Indeed! And it's rather a modest-looking house, all things considered.

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  7. Great work on taking care of the beach. You are an inspiration, Bea. I never saw the movie about Jobs but I don't think it was very flattering so your description of him fits the narrative. Take care.

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