The block of flats where we live has a communal rubbish area downstairs. It's a council block, so to be honest, it has quite a few rubbish areas, most notably the inside of the lift, which frequently radiates with the kind of smell you don't really wish to know the origin of. But its one official rubbish area is the bin room downstairs.

When Lisa's mother used to live here, she was fond of telling me that you could furnish an entire flat from the items you find discarded down there, and having been here for a year and a half, I'm inclined to agree. The portable TV with built in DVD player which resides in Amelie's bedroom and pumps out Pingu for six hours a day was discovered lying on the floor down there, complete with remote control, about a year ago, and is still going strong today. There's currently a nice Moses basket sitting down there too (baby not included) if you want one. But yesterday afternoon I found this...


When I saw it standing in the corner, I genuinely thought it was a stack of old books. But when I went to open the top one, I found this...


It's actually a coffee table, with a storage compartment in the top. Sadly I don't drink coffee, and I don't read much either, but I do like getting stuff for free, so I salvaged it from the rubbish dump, cleaned it up a bit, and hey presto, I've got Big Sis's Christmas present.

I'm joking of course. It's far too good for Big Sis. I'll be keeping it for myself.