Throw it down

‘It’s okay, just throw it down’, I hear my love say to the guys who are putting new windows and window frames in the kitchen and living room and who are not sure what to do with the old frames and glass. I want to protest: Are you crazy, you can’t just throw things down from the balcony! But I decide to shut up. We have no big garbage bags at home, wooden window frames wouldn’t fit in there anyway, I’m not going to carry these things to the waste containers down the road, and besides that, nobody blinks even an eye at my love’s solution, so okay, go ahead.

A little later I look down to see the damage. And what happens? One of the neighbours is busy with the wood: she is breaking the frames into pieces with a big stone and makes a nice pile, and later I see her children come and together they take the wood home. The next day the glass is gone too, and the pieces of plastic that were sawn off the new window frames to make them fit, are taken away by somebody.

The next day, the landlord announced that besides new window frames and windows, we would get a new front door as well. A worker came, and he left the old door in the hallway. Two days later, it was still standing there. I wondered what to do with it, or would somebody be coming to take it away? Then the door bell rang. I opened the door, and saw the landlord standing there with the door in his hands. ‘Can I come in?’ Sure. Without speaking, boyfriend opened the door to the balcony, the landlord walked out and threw the door off. The noise made some neighbours come out. They picked up the door and put it against a wall where It will stay until somebody comes to somehow cut it into pieces and take it home. Winter is coming, and woorden window frames and doors burn nicely in a wood stove. What people do with the glass and plastic I’m not sure. Ok, that’s not true: the plastic will definitely end up in a heater as well. That’s what still bothers my conscience – Turks don’t seem to know (or care?) how poisonous burning plastic is. As for the rest, I totally support the throwing down solution!