Editor: Our new blue recycling box disappeared last Thursday, along with the blue and the yellow paper recycling envelopes.

It鈥檚 a mystery.

This isn鈥檛 the first time our envelopes have disappeared, but to have all the recycling equipment go at once was a first. We鈥檇 just visited the Township offices to replace the blue box as our old one had finally split down the side. That collection day was the first time we鈥檇 put it outside. It looked clean, bright and inviting.

This loss has caused, after the first consternation, speculation. It鈥檚 all speculation.

Why ours? Perhaps now the shiny blue box is being used to collect empties from a summertime party? Perhaps it was new enough to warrant use as a temporary storage place for beverages for a family reunion? Maybe children鈥檚 paddling pool toys are being stored in it. It would do a fine job of that, too.

What about the blue newspaper and the yellow flyer envelopes? They are ideal for compost collection 鈥� pine needles, lawn clippings. Maybe there鈥檇 been a clean-up, prior to back-to-school, of all last year鈥檚 exercise books. They could have caused an overflow that needed to be removed, what with the daily newspapers and flyers that had accumulated around the house while the occupants were away.

Maybe the 鈥渙ut of towners鈥� living in the campers around the house found our equipment useful to store the extra rubbish they needed to dispose of.

This is, as I said, idle speculation, caused by curiosity as to why our particular recycling equipment has been targeted once again. When we looked up the street, all our neighbours鈥� emptied bins and envelopes were still neatly upturned on the grassy sidewalks on the roadside outside their houses. The garbage men do a tidy job. Yet our equipment was missing yet again.

We鈥檒l make our way to the Township offices this week, of course. We鈥檒l ask for replacements. I hope the cheery young women at the front desk don鈥檛 recognize us from that short time ago when we made a similar request.

鈥淥dd,鈥� one might say to the other. 鈥淭hat elderly couple were only up here a little while ago asking for the same thing. I wonder what they are doing with them?鈥�

It goes without saying, but I shall say it anyway. Whoever spirited our stuff away could have gone up to the Township offices and made a similar request instead of removing ours. Perhaps that alternative was too much trouble for them in this busy world.

Maybe, if they thought about it at all, they assumed that, as retired people, time might hang heavily on our hands, and a trip to the Township would relieve our monotony. Could it be that they wanted to enliven our lives by giving us a mystery to think about?

If that is the case, I thank them for their consideration. However, I hope that, should they require a third set of recycling materials, they stimulate speculation in some other household. Despite the fact that I have taken the time to write this letter, we require no assistance in finding tasks with which to occupy ourselves.

Ruth Stewart,

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