Grrrrr...

I have had a very productive weekend, clearing much of the loft and the house - it's cleaner than it's ever been and I have a load of bin bags for the charity shop and another 10 of unrecyclables and stuff to dump. I've also prepared loads of stuff to give away to people I know and I'm generally in much more 'control of stuff now. I then made my fatal mistake - freecycle.

In general - freecycle is a very good thing - I've given loads of stuff away to people who are generally very nice and grateful - and lots of stuff that I don't want has new homes. I never bother asking for anything now - it's a really busy site here and I don't need any more stuff in the house - so I don't read any of the 30 or so emails I get daily. Over the last couple of years there has been an increase in the 'wanted' emails - and people can be pretty greedy and silly 'wanted - flat screen TV, must be at least 32 inch and good quality' - and I get really annoyed by the text speak some people think is appropriate or really poorly written and incomprehensible rubbish you often get. Other things really piss me off, like the vultures who email you for EVERYTHING you post, every time - people who are rude to you - I once had someone snatch a camera out of my hand as I opened the door to them, and just walk away - and it's not unusual for people to be surly and impolite. I know someone who gave away loads of stuff that she clearly described as 'boot sale' items - a couple of bags worth - and the next morning found that the bags had been dumped at the end of her road, after having been opened and gone through. I also had a bad experience where I gave away some bagged up top soil - and the person involved gave my phone number to all their friends and they kept ringing me up and asking when they could come round for some too. I have occasionally given away quite good stuff that I'm just not bothered selling. I gave a good quality SLR camera away once to someone who posted an almost tearful request - and then about a week later they posted an almost identical request for another one.

Freecycle can also be a bit of a pain - people can be really awkward - they change their minds as to when they can and can't come round and collect, send emails requesting things when they have not read the original posting properly, generally don't turn up or are quite rude / thoughtless / selfish - and seem to relish inconvenience - like the bloke who turned up to collect a large wardrobe in a tiny car and then expected me to spend an hour - and my cables - tethering it to his roof ( his back hurt... ).

Yesterday, whilst clearing out the loft - I put an old digital camera on freecycle - the woman came today to collect - fine. Today, On three occasions between 8am and 3.30pm - I found items too good the chuck - including electrical equipment and stuff that I know charities collect. As I found, cleaned and packed up each item I posted it on Freecycle and forgot about it. later that day I received 3 emails, all my emails returned to me with the Prefix NOT APPROVED and a snotty email telling me to combine them all into one email. Frankly I'm too busy to be treated like a fucking child and straight away asked to be removed from Freecycle.

It's a fucking cheek - I'm the one already putting myself out and making an effort to reduce landfill and give away stuff that cost me money, and generally inconveniencing myself while people fuck about at my expense. Apart from the fact each email was hours apart - there is a good reason I don't post them all together - they were all really different items - and I could describe them correctly in the title - so I don't waste anyone's time - and as experience has taught me - if you post loads of different things in one email - people get confused, waste your time, get the times and days and items mixed up - or, and this is most common - just ask for everything "yeah, of course I need a kettle, surfboard, caliper, straw sun hat and Moses basket - they will make my life complete". I also know several people who have been told off for exactly the opposite - posting too many things together in the same email.

I don't care if anyone thinks I'm being unreasonable or over reacting - I'm sick of putting myself out for other people - which is what I'm doing - and then being patronised and belittled. They can just fuck of. It's all going to the charity shop. Except all the electrical and computer stuff, my neighbours son likes stuff like that and he might want it.

Have a massive fucking headache now - and I need to work. Bollocks.