A few months ago someone walked into the office of the Undercurrent, to pay a bill I think, and started offering his opinions as people often do. He said that there is a dark heart to Bowen Island, and it sucks people in and if they are lucky, it spits them out.
I realized last Friday evening that the dark heart is in fact, the Undercurrent office.
I’m not sure how long the paper has been run out of this particular location but I am fairly sure that it has never been cleaned. It also appears that at least some of the people who worked here had a tendency toward pack-rat type behaviour, and never bothered to clean up their belongings upon departure.
When our new publisher agreed to pay for a paint job of our place, I never imagined the random loot we’d dig up in here. If you’re at the Nook this weekend you might happen upon some of it. Many of the other odds and sods are being sorted through at BIRD as I write, I am sure.
I am deeply thankful for these Bowen institutions, simply for existing and taking all this stuff off our hands.
It would be much easier just to dump it, but it would also induce a lot of guilt, and probably end up costing more in the end.
Which brings up another matter of concern: the municipality, in their persistent belt tightening, has cut Spring and Fall Clean-Up Days. This will save us taxpayers $31 thousand per year, but will it cost more in the long-run?.
I know that a great many of us here will do what we’re supposed to, and call up Bowen Waste Service or Mike’s Bins and pay them directly to haul-off our old mattresses and such. I also have this niggling feeling that there will be people who won’t, and mystery junk will line our streets.
So while the municipality is doing nice things like helping good citizens discard waste they find on our beaches, and helping others to bring tourists to the island... garbage and how our community deals with it may-well cease to remain a point of pride.
I am worried about this, but I think it will bother me less if I just hide in the office. After all, we’ve already disposed of all our junky furniture. Thanks to a fresh coat of paint, and Maureen Sawasy’s very powerful vacuum cleaner, I think we can now officially deem the Undercurrent a safe-zone.
You’re all welcome to visit, albeit briefly, we’ve got deadlines. While you’re here, please check the lost and found, I think we’ve got your old flip-phone.
