So, we’re driving along minding our own business when I see this dumpster filled with old doors and windows. I immediately made my husband pull a U-turn on the windy, narrow suburban Dublin road. I know I’m not strapping a door to my back to bring home to the U.S. but that doorknob looked like something I could fit into my carry-on.

Upon closer look, everything there was a reproduction, so not worth going back to the mother in law’s to fetch a screwdriver to take the knob. I was rooting around in front of the house when a woman came out to see WTF was going on. Oops. Looked like nobody was there. I explained in my American accent (that makes it ok) that the doorknob looked good, would she mind if I came back later with a screwdriver to claim it? She told me it wasn’t her house and the gentleman was not there.

Yeah, right. She thought I was a nut. Screw you, lady, your doorknob was a hollow 1970’s POS anyway.

A few years ago, we walked around Dublin looking for a bunch of architectural salvage shops we found in the yellow pages. There were about five of them and it seemed that all five were out of business.

Perhaps with the economy in the dumps now, more people will look to the dump to rescue used material. Wouldn’t be the worst thing to come out of this.