04 November 2012

More comments arising

I blame Meg from Call Me Meg for getting me into Freecycle. After she mentioned it in her blog, I found out from a few people locally that there was a Freecycle group in my area.

Like Meg, I've picked up and given away some clothes through Freecycle. I've also picked up and given away other completely unrelated items such as giving away my father's old concrete mixer and a couple of garden sheds, and picking up various other items.

So it was that today, I borrowed a friend's trailer and drove about 30km (20Mi) each way to pick up a piece of machinery that had been dragged out of the back of an elderly American guy's garage because it was easier for him to buy a new cheap Chinese unit than to repair a minor fault in the  home-made one that he'd made 25 years ago.

He was quite friendly. I deliberately backed the trailer into his driveway while keeping the car almost parallel to the street, putting the trailer almost sideways relative to my car while neatly taking it over the invert without scraping the kerb and he complimented my ability to manoeuvre a small trailer. We chatted about how much easier it is to manoeuvre big trailers than small and a few other things while loading the machine onto the trailer.

Of course, coming out of the back of his shed, the machine was quite dirty. I keep gloves in the car for such occasions, and I used them to load it onto the trailer, then kept them on while tying it down.

I commented that I wouldn't normally wear gloves while tying ropes, but that the rope was dirty. Without the slightest hint of disapproval, he commented something along the lines that I'd want to wear the gloves particularly with those nails.

I mentioned that the nails were green for Halloween, and the conversation moved onto the decline of Halloween in the USA because of social changes that have made it too dangerous in some places. After a bit more small talk as I secured the load, I thanked him for the machine, he thanked me for actually showing up to collect it (apparently failure to turn up to collect something that you're getting for free is a big issue with Freecycle!?!), we shook hands and off I went.

Of all of the colours that I've had my nails, this green has been the best conversation starter of the lot. It's not really a great polish, as it took 3 coats to get a reasonable application, and it's not a colour that goes with much of my clothing, but it's a great one for getting people to comment.

Ironically, the only person who I can recall ever saying anything negative about my nails is my mother, who would prefer that I go back to having normal male nails.

As an aside, one of the other guys that I chatted to at the party on Saturday night was clean shaven with one stud in each ear. I'm probably completely wrong, but I can't shake the feeling that I may have met him before en femme.

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