The end of an era

Over some years Rob has been collecting empty beer and cider cans. Why? It's just one of those unfathomable pieces of adolescent nonsense that many of us indulged in at one time or another.

The collection was stacked many deep and from floor to ceiling in the dire pit that we laughingly refer to as his bedroom. It even reached the stage where Rob began a Facebook group (which attracted quite a few members) called "Things to do with 1300+ empty beer cans". You can find the site (if you're a Facebook member) at http://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=2379299250.

The headline shot is of the beer can collection, not in its prime, but still looking rather larger than most of us might want clogging up our sleeping quarters. The edifice came crashing down last summer as Mrs The Millbrooker and I attempted to use Rob's access door into the garden whilst humping heavy items to the shed. We didn't actually touch it - it was a bit windy that day and the draught brought about a (rather satisfying) crashing sound. It never got completely rebuilt.

Eventually the fascination with unwashed beverage containers seems to have waned. Several black dustbin liners were filled on New Year's Eve by a few of Rob's cronies who turned them into fancy dress "tin man" suits for the night.

Only yesterday, Rob was witnessed dismantling the last of the collection (I'd like to point out that the bedroom's colour scheme is not a form of parental torture on a young and impressionable mind, he chose it himself):

Into recycling bags the whiffy stale ale vessels went:

Rob's method of crushing the cans was captured in all its glory by Mrs The Millbrooker in what is (probably) the action photo of the year (note the numerous objets d'art in the background scattered in Rob's tasteful, aesthetic and inimitable style):

The only worry is what he might think of as a replacement collection.