Last Thursday was garbage day on our street. As it happened that morning it was pounding rain and we had planned to drive up to Telegraph Cove with Wayne and Terry so I would not be there to bring in the cans later in the day.

I had arranged for our neighbours to bring the cans in but as they work it would be later in the day.

I put out our main garbage bin(an expensive one) and two additional cans with the yard waste (cheaper cans) .

When we got home on Friday evening I noticed that we had the two yard waste cans (but missing one of the lids)  and the lid for our main garbage can but no can itself.

I talked to the neighbour and he told me that the afternoon had a huge windstorm and garbage cans were strewn up and down the street.   So I went wandering up and down to see if our can and missing lid were stranded in somebody’s yard.  Now I had our address clearly painted on the bin (high wind blowing away happens every now and then)  But no success.

So I think someone found a can and just brought it into their garage and would realize at one point when they saw our address that they have the wrong can and would just return it.   But as the week went on it did not happen.  No culprit came forward.  I began to look at my neighbours with a more, well let me just say, suspecting attitude.

Today was garbage day.  Beautiful day.  I went up and down the street several times to see if anyone was putting out garbage in my can.  Problem is that our main garbage can is one of the most popular type in the neighbourhood so I had to check many duplicates to see if there was any trace of the address I had painted on.  Very upsetting as I could not find the can and hopefully no one noticed me handling their bins.  I checked thoroughly every can up and down the street to see if there was any evidence of someone sanding off our address to use for their garbage.  Could not find it.  Granted if you used really fine grit sand paper the surface may not show, so it may have been possible.

This is a mystery.  How could a street as closed in as ours have a large garbage can just disappear.  Now I am not into UFOs and Pat tells me that it is unlikely that a crime group would focus on our street to steal a single can (particularly one without a lid)

We will have to buy a new bin and I am thinking of painting it flourescent orange so the crime group does not steal it in the future if we have another wind storm.

Still I think I am going to continue to walk up and down the street in the months ahead peering into garages of our neighbours in case I can catch them out.