Freecycle and similar websites

The site is on FB and its for anyone living in my postcode area. You can give or ask for items. The nice thing is that everyone lives locally and its often the same people that you interact with.

Today I went to pick up these wooden vegetables       to sit on top of the dresser that lost its top-half a week or so ago. When I went to the house, the owner said "There are 2 sets, do you want fruit, veg or both?" You can guess what I said!  Next minute, I'm inside their living room, where the floor is covered in wooden carvings, in boxes, suitcases or sitting on the carpet and the owner is picking up wooden carvings and offering them to me. There were lots of elephants and other animals. Apparently, his father would go to Kenya every year, and would always bring more carvings back with him. Now, they were clearing the parent's house and had to find homes for everything.
The wife said "We need to find a home for the polar bearstoo" and I had to ask to see them! They were china ornaments, all sizes, from about 2' to little ones, and they were gorgeous. Very tempting - but I resisted. There was a lot of coloured glass vases and ornaments too - that her mother had collected - all needing new homes.
In case you're wondering how weak willed I was, I came away with the fruit & veg, a wooden fish with an articulated body (so it moves in your hand) and a hollow wooden carved thingy that would look nice with a light inside it.

............and I picked up the packing tapes too.