31 Comments

Reminds me of Nicholson Baker.

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*Shamefully googles Nicholson Baker*

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I love the insight this gives to the epic proportions that every day tasks of domesticity may contain, while also hinting at the protagonist's larger life. Well done.

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Thanks, I like the tone of you work. Have you been around substack for long?

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Thanks Mr. Bazerque. I've been on Substack since about the launch of Notes, took a look around, made some posts, and decided to stick to the real world over the summer until I returned about a month ago.

I'm a "Substack only organic growth" user here, i.e. no other social media, so I don't have much in the way of subscribers.

Been writing fiction my whole life.

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love it.

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Cheers Ethan.

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The most exciting and only story I read about taking trash out. The mundane can be so fascinating.

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Merci Nadia

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Fun! Really good fun to read! I'm pretty sure you weren't trying to be profound but this does honour what most of life is about (if we are lucky, and don't live in a war zone etc): the tiny details of ordinary life and the continual mind-talk that makes them (and us) meaningful. Love it.

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Ha! I was just uninspired that week, so I was just messing around with the idea of writing something epic about nothing at all

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Whoever knew emptying the rubbish could be this much fun.

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Thanks Gayathiri :)

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Great story about the "common man." After 30 years in the same house I have the trash trip pretty well under control.

My only problem is when I forget to bring the bin back inside my fence, I get nasty letters from the homeowners association.

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Do you still get holes in your bin bags sometimes, despite your long experience of this situation? I would find it comforting to know that you do.

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I have a lidded bin in my kitchen and get kitchen bags for it. The bag rims fit closely over the lip of the pull up container in the metal bin. As one bag is filled it goes outside to my 50 gallon yard bin supplied by the city.

The kitchen bin has a foot pedal to raise the lid when needed.

As the IT pros say "Garbage in, garbage out."

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So no holes then, damn. But I’ll get there one day. I blame my wife.

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And that gets you where?

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Love it!

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Thx Bruce

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Well done! I could hear the Mission Impossible theme playing in the background!

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Oh, how much I can relate! But yours ended so triumphantly, well done! as I often forget to grab my key on the way out.

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Lol this is exactly how I should have ended this story

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I am a fan of making a big deal and blowing mundane activities out of proportions. This was really good! I had a similar theme in a poem I wrote long ago.

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Brilliant! Really loved this!

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🙌🫡

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This inspired me to take out the trash and to punt a poodle. Now I, too, know the profound and unique thrill of the hard job well done. Thank you, Remy!

Tangentially, much like the beloved "Build-a-Bear" stores, there should be a "Punt-a-Puddle" store where you can punt a poodle... you know for mental health or science or something.

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lol, yes like these places where you can go and smash things around for half an hour.

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Exactly! Just replace "things" with "little rat dogs."

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Loved this story Remy! As is typical for me, I was cruising along enjoying the fabulous gold mine of Substack. I came upon, or more likely tripped over one of your pieces. Eureka! I cried as I subscribed to your Substack. 😄

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That’s very kind, thx 🙌

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