Left behind

skuta · 21-04-2022, 19:17

Recently an elderly neighbour died and after the usual family grab of her stuff, the remaining few bits & pieces have been dumped out in the front garden, left uncovered.

I find it humiliating for her in a way to have her sum wordly possessions dumped on public display. Apparently she was 94 and didn't have much. Nothing of any real value could be seen. Some furniture looked good enough for re-use even though it is cheap Chipboard.
I find it all very sad to be reminded how it can all be over so quickly, taking nothing with you.

Would any of you like your neighbours seeing all your stuff on display when you check out?

cashman · 21-04-2022, 19:39

No i think that shows what kind of people they are personally.

Margaret Pilkington · 21-04-2022, 20:39

No I would not.
My next door neighbour had a similar thing happen to her when her home was broken up for her to go into a care home.
Her son employed a house clearance firm and they were chucking her stuff from a display cabinet(so stuff she had treasured) into heavy duty rubble bags in her front garden…..smashing the stuff and it was left there for two days until they came back to,pick it up and take it to the tip.
I found it upsetting and sad….there were things that someone on a limited income could have made use of…..plates, dishes mugs, cutlery….all serviceable….but discarded.

dotti34 · 22-04-2022, 00:00

No, it is not respectful to display to all and sundry items that were most probably treasured by the person who has passed away. There is definitely a much more thoughtful and dignified way of doing this, but of course it depends on whether or not the family are a thoughtful and dignified lot.

When a close neighbour of mine passed away his daughter put items of furniture on his front lawn and offered them free to anyone who would be able to make use of them. I think Harold would have given this the thumbs up. He was a kind man.

I didn’t want anything but his daughter showed me a garden seat that was in disrepair. In the state it was in it wasn’t worth much but she thought that it might be a project for my husband to work on. We took it home and he did work on it, spent a fair amount of time in fixing it up. It is now in my garden when otherwise it would possibly have been thrown in the dump. I think of old Harold when I sit on it. I had known him a long time.