Back to modernity: My dad's dustbin is alive!
My dad’s dustbin is alive! From a distance it looks like a typical well mannered kitchen dustbin; 60 litres, silver colour with a lid. The unusual thickness of its lid, and the absence of a pedal should have made me suspicious, but my naivity kept me from seeing the obvious. She took me by surprise. First there was a sound, a soft groaning which I heard briefly as I was leaving the kitchen. And then I saw it happening with my own eyes. As I approached my hand it started moving alone! This dustbin's behaviour is nothing like what is usually observed amongst individuals of the garbage family. It has somehow developped the capacity to sense the approach of trash, to which it reacts by opening wide it's garbage mouth and closing it once trash has been deposited in it's stomach. At times it closes while my hand is still inside of it, probably trying to add some human flesh into it’s dustbin diet.
Be careful, this is not a unique case; I heard that there are many more specimens of this strange species. I had to tame it slowly. I first spent a few long minutes staring at it incredulously as it opened and closed everytime I approached my hand. The tough part was cooking. It opened up everytime I walked next to it and I had troubles concentrating on my soup. Despite my attempts to move calmly and keep my distances I couldn't control its behaviour. So I did what I had to do... I turned it off. But don't worry, I turned it on again later and I don't think that it suffered any long term effects, except maybe a good lesson.
Honestly, I am amazed at the progress in the field of automatic dustbin making. When I left France, the most advanced type of dustbin that I knew of was the one that you had to press with one finger to cause it to open up -my mum still owns one of those, she has always been a little old fashioned.
Really, what else could we have dreamed of than self aware automated dustbins?
Since I came back from my long journey into countries without blenders and automatic carwash, I keep being amazed at technology and all the great things that it has produced or improved during my absence. I got my first email writing, translator, mapping, keyboard, chat, Facebook phone and although I have no way to use it as there is still no sim card in it, I am amazed at how modern I have become myself. I am now typing this message on an iPad, enjoying the tapping sound of my fingers on the screen and feeling sorry for those still using laptops.
I would have never thought that throwing trash could be that exciting. I'll just have to make sure I keep throwing trash, only trash.