Unfiltered Story #285296

It’s the early eighties and we’re living in a flat while our house, which was damaged in an earthquake, is being rebuilt. We used to hang our laundry on a line in the yard but here we only have a balcony.
One day, my mother spots a rusty, wobbly drying rack left out on the sidewalk for the garbage collectors. Under the cover of night she carries it home, removes as much rust as she can with a wire brush and sandpaper and wraps plastic strips cut from cookie bags around the wires, so that the rust won’t stain the laundry (a coat of fresh paint being outside her area of expertise).
The somewhat-refurbished drying rack remains in service with us for some ten years, our financial situation improves, and my mother finally treats herself to a new, stainless, lightweight aluminium drying rack.
Thus the old one is left out on the sidewalk for the garbage collectors… and during the night, it disappears!