Thursday, March 27

The Blue Monster

The hulking blue monster moves slowly, its crablike arm reaches out, hesitantly at first lest it startle it’s prey, then cheerfully grabs and downs the food into its hungry mouth. It growls in delight as it scurries on in fits and starts, searching for more food.

Thursday is garbage day and that means it’s time for my favorite weekly entertainment, watching the recycle truck as it goes down the street. We use large blue cans to put all recyclables in; paper, plastic, newspaper and so on. The Truck looks like an ordinary garbage truck with a large enclosed trunk, painted blue. This one has only a driver though, no beefy guy jumps out to empty the cans into the back. Instead an articulated arm comes out of the side, just behind the cab, gently takes hold the bin and dumps the contents into the bed from overhead.

The amazing part is the skill of the driver as he navigates down the narrow street and around parked cars to get as close as possible to the big bins. He operates the controls for the arm with his left hand while watching his progress in the rear view mirror. It’s a joy to watch a master at work.

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