The Butt Ugly Weblog

The visit from the local garbage... car?

The doorbell rang.

"It's just the car with the blinkenlicht, don't answer", called Outi from the couch. (In Finnish, obviously.)

"A car with the blinkenlicht?" I replied. "This I gotta see."

I opened the door, and there were TWO cars waiting. We live in an apartment block, on the second floor, so seeing cars queuing up behind your door isn't exactly a common occurrence. There was a low sports car, pink (I think), and a black minivan. The minivan had an orange blinkenlicht on it. They're not full size; just maybe up to my chest. And they're made of obviously scrounged material.

"We take your garbage out, ten cents only", said the sportscar.

I look around and I see a young girl, about ten years old, standing next to my door. And next to the minivan stands a boy, maybe eight. They look very serious.

"Wow. How did you guys get those cars up here?" I ask, still a bit stunned. They point at the elevator. Duh.

"Did you build these yourself?" I query. The girl looks down, and mumbles something, which I take to be a negative answer. But the boy exclaims proudly that he had built the minivan all by himself. I suspect that he got a bit of adult help, but...

Good enough for me. I grab our pitiful garbage bag (which could easily devour a few more days full of trash), and the biotrash, and pass it to them, trying to hold back a laugh. Not a derisive one, mind you, but just simple joy at the idea and just the whole situation.

I thank them and give them the money. They shuffle off, obviously feeling suddenly very important. I watch them go, and suddenly wish that I will be able to raise my child well and keep it out of trouble.

Part of me hasn't really realized that I'm going to be a dad in less than three months. The rest are pretty much torn between confusion, fear and joy. We had our first family training ("perhevalmennus" - essentially a free service which teaches you to function like a cohesive family, and also teaches you about the basic things about child care) yesterday, and it was nice to see how pretty much everyone felt the same way.

So I suppose this is all good and normal.

But I have to admit that buying our first pram has made me really aware of all the other prams out there. They're bloody everywhere - how didn't I notice it before?