A story in four and a half parts.
- Think about how cool it would be if you had access to old tech things and had the chance to tinker around and try to repair them.
- Go to your local computer repair shops and ask if they recycle electronics, and if so, can they give you some? Get rejected from each and every one.
- Hop on a bus on one of the warmest days of August, headed to the big electronics center outside of the city where you are told everyone sends their to-be-recycled items.
- Ask them nicely if they recycle stuff and if so, can you have some of it?
- We don't operate like that. But there is a bin in the back of the shop. But you can't have the trash.
- The bin is actually a ship container. The first thing you see is a fridge and 3 CRTs on the ground, spilling from the side of the big metal box. Inside you can see printers, a copy machine, TVs, furnaces, a pair of broken headphones, cables, monitors. You notice the cameras on the walls of the building behind. There's a keyboard inside of the fridge.
- Put a tiny mouse in your pocket and go home on foot.
- Get on your bike at 9:48PM.
The lights are on in the electronics center at night. A few kids sit on the bench outside of the big toy store next to it. You leave your bike outside and walk, thinking that there's no way someone would call the police for stealing trash. Thankfully, all the floodlights make it easier to see every discarded device around. The first target is a beautiful big tape and CD boombox - you spotted it in the morning. You decide that behind the container, where the cameras can't see, you will temporarily place your loot before moving it.
The next item is three speakers. Probably don't work, but also probably fixable. A couple of the monitors also seem to be in good condition. As you walk around, thinking of the best plan, you see a DVD player which you instantly put in your bag. You grab a router too. You climb on top of a furnace an notice an old PC. That needs to get out, even just for parts. Time to expand the plan.
The PC is way too heavy for its own good. What does it even have inside to justify that? The driveway of the house right next door is the best option for the dismemberment to happen. An old man passing by shoots you a weird glance as you grab the RAM (Which, by the way, turned out to be 256MB. Fail). A few moments later the PC is missing its hard drive and Ethernet card (for some reason) and back into the bin.
You manage to quickly grab the boombox, another DVD player (!) and a router, as well as the parts of the PC. A couple DVDs also fit in the bag. It has been an hour, and you have to bike home with a big tape player hanging off your bike's handles.
