CHANFLES!

I like taking pictures of normal things. Stupid things. The stuff you see everyday but give little attention, as it rightly should be. I find insignificance interesting: the things people use on a daily basis, the language they use to relate to each other, the customs they’ve developed to make things easier, it all hints at what makes people and cities function as they do. Mostly you notice the small things when you travel, like the coin-operated meters that dispense heat in some London flats, the communal cooking clubs in the Basque country, or how friends were surprised (but appreciative) when I whistled for a faraway cab in Glasgow. I’m not usually interested in the museums or the other fancy buildings most cities use to promote themselves, I want to know about that green sauce you poured on my mash!

So even in my own hometown, its useful to pay attention to the little things. But trash cans? I haven’t lost all my canicas (yet) and I know it’s kinda stupid, but I like how they look so orderly before the pickup (like the pic above) and the bin disaster left by a hurried worker is even better! If you consider it a weekly parade of plastic helpers doing our dirty work, even if nobody comes out to watch, maybe you’ll have a better appreciation of the task they fulfill. Or maybe not. Oh well. Pa’ los demas, siganme los basureros!

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