The Interview - with a few recycling containers

Interview your favorite fictional character.

I do not believe it. One of the most boring prompts I ever got. Only 55 other bloggers bother with it, which explains how boring it really was. Just because WordPress put a years worth of daily prompts into an online album, it does not give them the right to ignore their bloggers with such repeats. They seem to think that it was really something fantastic to record all the old prompts in an online list, not thinking that some of us had answered the 365 prompts already. How dumb and stupid can you get? And now for something completely different.

No, this is not a bin for used up prompts, although it would be suitable. It is a bin for your doggy if you take a walk with him or her. Yes, we Swiss love order, tidiness and above all cleanliness and so we have these bins distributed along the river bank. They are even supplied with handy plastic bags. I am sure the dog lovers amongst us know how it works. Fido, or whatever he is called, had a natural urge. We all have them sometimes, but we have things called toilets, or you do your best to wait until at home. It is difficult to make it clear to Fido that he has to wait until arriving at home and so you allow him to go ahead. You then take a plastic bag, insert it over your hand, grip the unwanted recycling results with the bag and deposit them in the doggy bin. Humans are happy and Fido could not really care less. The things you see as you take a walk along the river.

If you really want to see how well we organise ourselves in this little country, then see this. These strange metal containers have a purpose. I found them standing next to our local tennis club. Perhaps there is one for discarded tennis balls. They are not Swiss robots spying on the population and recording all movements and thoughts. No they are bins, each for a certain purpose.

“I only accept glass.”

“Who said that?”

“Me, the one at the back on the left.”

“He is such a show off, I am especially reserved for aluminium foil.”

“And what about me, I literally swallow plastic bottles and spit them out again a few months later as a new plastic bottle.”

“I collect old clothes, but make sure they are clean before you throw them in.”

“Just a minute, I can hardly hear myself think. Take it easy, I am sure you all have a meaningful purpose in your lives.”

“Of course we do, but only because of the thoughtlessness of the humans. They would otherwise throw their rubbish unsorted in the bin bags.”

I suppose they are right. On the other hand these super containers are not cheap and neither is the recycling process afterwards. We, the Swiss tax payers, pay for the privilidge of having freshly sorted refuse, all neatly separated waiting for recycling. 

Today Mr. Swiss let me out on my own to do the week-end shopping. It must be at least a month, when not more, that I had the steering wheel of a car in my hands, but I remained cool and composed. I was surprised myself that I still knew how it worked. Mr. Swiss was attending the funeral of one of his ex school friends. I also belong to my school site on Facebook and it is tragic when you hear about the demise of a classmate and just a little depressing. As you become older, it happens more often than you would like and you realise how short our stay is in this time and space. Mr. Swiss saw many old acquaintances at the funeral. There will be another class reunion in a couple of weeks he told me.

And now I hear the call of the wild again. My blog is written, the sun is shining and I am in a short sleeved t-shirt mood, so I will put on my walking shoes and go - with a camera of course. This time it will be a solo walk, as Mr. Swiss is still recovering from the morning exhaustion. It will probably be a quick hop to the castle, a short visit to the horses and I have an appointment at the cemetery. There was an interesting ornament I saw, but unfortunately my prize winning attempt was blurred. It was a cold windy day and probably my hands were shivering. I now intend to do a retake of this.

See you all tomorrow with another warmed up boring prompt.

WordPress Daily Prompt: If (I)Felines Ruled the World

You’ve been given the superpower to change one law of nature. How do you use it?

After careful thought I have made my decision. We waste far too much time in this world doing things that could be deemed as a burden, a waste of time, not necessary. Have you ever thought how it would be if the recycling process would no longer exist.

How often have I spent time in the local supermarket, interrupting my shopping experience with a visit to a certain place? “Sorry, but I must go” “but I was just going to pay at the cash desk”, “No, I can’t wait” and so I disappear to arrive again relived and full of energy a few minutes later.

What is the main interruption to your routine when you have babies to look after? Yesss, you change their nappies not just once a day, but sometimes once an hour and not because baby says “I have to”, baby just does it and you are confronted with the smell and mess and being a mother you have to do it all by yourself, although men also do it today as they decided they want to become emancipated and have equal opportunities as women. That might also be a law of nature we could change from the beginning, but no, let us not mess with that. It took women years of training to get the men so far that they really believe they are organising it all, and we do not want to spoil their visions.

So where were we? Yes, no more diaper changing, no more talcum powder sprinklings, and above all no more cat litter boxes, for those that are owned by this race of four legged furry creatures.

“You are going to abolish our cat tray?” said my three felines in chorus.

“Nera, Tabby, Fluffy, are you looking over my shoulder again whilst I am writing my wise thoughts for today’s blog?”

“Mrs. Human, since when are your thoughts wise, you sit at the computer chewing your finger nails and wondering what to write. If it was not for our feline inspiration, you would have no idea.”

“So what is so tragic about not having a cat tray? You would not be digging into the special clumping material covering up your private business. It would no longer be necessary. You would smell like Siddhartha, who left a trail of lotus flowers in his wake with every step he took.”

I noticed my felines were staring at me and shaking their heads and twitching their ears, which possess 32 muscles each and that is a lot of twitching.

Tabby spoke “Mrs. Human, with your brilliant idea of abolishing the cat tray, can you explain how we are to mark our territory with our personal fragrance. We would be invaded with all sorts of strange felines, who would not smell as sweet as we are. Ex territorial felines would invade our private realm through the cat flap and fights would develop. We do not need so much stress in our feline introverted lives. And who is this Siddartha bloke? I am sure he is not a patch on Bastet, and she said to leave a scent, a mark, where you have trod.”

“But Tabby your scents are not always so human friendly.”

“Mrs. Human we are felines, and how would I find my brothers in arms if we did not mark our territory”. That was Fluffy, who is blind, so I suppose she has a point.

“You see, Mrs. Human, Fluffy is right and it would mean that Fluffy would be following me, as leader of the pack, with her nose to find where she is which would be another cause of feline disagreement. I do not like being followed. Another point is the great outdoors. Our complete territory outside, known as garden in human terms, has a border lined without our scent. No self-respecting strange feline would dare to put a paw in our area without asking my permission. They would respect our marks.” Nera being the chief feline had made her point.

“Nera is right” said Tabby “and there is nothing more invigorating as digging in a soft patch of earth, leaving a token of our possession and afterwards burying it to ensure that it remains where it is. You humans will never understand the needs of the feline race. Our recycling tray remains and so does the recycling process. You might have problems with the human kittens, but we felines have no problems, we do not even need diapers. We are nature’s children and have no problem with it.” To accompany this last remark she stamped her paw on the ground, joined by Nera and Fluffy.

“And something else Mrs. Human” added Nera “if you really want to change the law of nature, the clumping material you use in our cat tray is not environment friendly. I am sure your Siddhartha guy did not have anything clumping while he was walking around in the lotus fields, and we felines do not need it either. It is not natural, our scent would not linger as it should.”

“Felines forget it. Let us just leave everything as it is. I am not going to use non-clumping material and sieve it all through to ensure a clean tray, so you will have to live with it.”

“If you really want to change one of nature’s laws Mrs. Human, then perhaps make the world language Meow. I am sure we would all understand each other much better” and that seemed to be the feline’s last word on the subject.

So I say a Meow goodbye to all. Have to go, there is a cat tray problem to be emptied.

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