£500 per tonne

This weekend I did a tiny bit of life-laundry and got rid of a load of old clothes. I took them to the place that buys unwanted clothes for 50p per kilo. At that price I assumed that they would take any old junk, in fact as they buy by weight I assumed that they were going to sort and shred the fabric and sell the fibre to spinning mills, and so I put in an old bedsheet too.

The proprietor was a Polish gent operating from the back of a shipping container. Firstly he questioned me aggressively about whether they were my clothes to sell, and whether I knew what was in the bag. He then emptied the bag and rejected every single item. "Torn. Worn out. Dirty. No good. Torn. No good, Not clothes. No good. Dirty..."

I'd like to say that I've never been so insulted in my life, but sadly that would be a lie. It was definitely the most embarrassing attempt (and failure) to earn £3 that I've ever made.

Richard "Most stylish person at the table" B