Skipdiver

"When my wife became pregnant with our first child she gave up smoking. A couple of years before that she got drunk - once. A flutter on the Grand National or Derby, she's not even a gambler. Shopping - she buys only what we need when we need. Boring or sensible housewife? It depends on how you look at it.

Someone with no vices, but looks can be deceiving because my wife Jan is a skip-aholic - a skip diver, skip searcher, call it what you will. The harmless pursuit of peering into skips of other people's rubbish is an Aladdin's cave to Jan. Going for a walk, out for an evening or visiting friends, usually turns into me retrieving her spectacular finds and cramming them into our small car. To Jan an empty skip is just sheer excitement waiting to happen. The larger the skip, the greater the bonanza. A full skip on the back of a lorry, an opportunity missed.

Searching out skips is a way of life to our family. Small household skips hold no interest for Jan but the larger industrial ones may deserve the odd peek. Garages stuffed with clutter fascinate her but luckily she hasn't yet stooped to actually knocking on the occupier's door and telling them that they need to get a skip in. Rummaging in a skip some people become just like children playing with their favourite toys and my heart goes out to their long suffering partners when I see them standing there, just like me, waiting at the side of one of those irresistible yellow bins."

What are you currently doing?
I am currently studying a part-time degree at the University of Glamorgan, specialising in painting, photography and mixed-media. I have lived in Blackwood for twenty nine years, though I was brought up in the Rhymney Valley. My wife is from Blackwood and we met on a blind-date over thirty years ago. I have three sons that are pursuing their passions in music and interactive media.

What's your story about?
In our life, there are people we have known for a long time. It may be a friend or a relative, but we are very complacent about what they do. Some people do judge and stereotype. Jan - my wife - cannot be taken at face value, she has something hidden and it's her endless interest in the contents of skips.

Why was it important for you to tell this story?
I wanted people to think before judging. Jan in my story could be anyone - a next door neighbour or a relative perhaps. But they do have a certain quirk about them, something that isn't at all apparent.

How did you find the workshop?
It was fantastic. I am really glad that I had prepared well for the workshop, especially the script. This helped me to relax more for the work ahead in completing my digital story. I had never used computers before but I really enjoyed the experience. I am itching to create another.

Your comments

"Thanks for the comments I am still skip diving. Something nice happened this week John was reading John Peels book only to find he was reading about us, Jan and John and skips. Saddly he died the week he was to interview us. By the way a skip in New York is a dumster, HUGE ... tHATS jAN." Jan Tyler

"I thought the skip stuff would look really tacky but that dresser looks born for the house. Can I come to tea? Real people RULE." Angela Carnegie Mackay, Chepstow, Wales.

"Skips rule John, Jan is right! a yellow cornucopia of the usable and reusable." D.J.Flynn, Caerphilly, Wales.