Colin Oscar Pee, a well-known local character, is celebrating finding his one millionth elastic band on the pavements of his town.
‘I started collecting rubber bands when I was eight,’ said Colin, ‘because I knew that they were dangerous to birds and small mammals, but mainly because I didn’t have any friends. I picked them up on my way to school, on my way to do graffiti behind the pub, and on my trips to do shoplifting. I never thought that my collection would grow to be of international significance.’
Parish councillor Bernard Dredge says that the rubber band collection has put the town on the map. But not in a good way. According to him ‘International significance’ is definitely stretching it.
‘I find rubber bands every day,’ said Colin. ‘They are usually on the pavement, sometimes in the gutter and sometimes on driveways. They are never in the same place twice, so I have to be on the lookout all the time, to make sure that I don’t miss any. Some people think it’s unhygienic to pick them up, but I disinfect them in a dustbin before adding them to my collection, so that they don’t smell.’ The collection now fills six rooms in Colin’s parent’s house, a double garage and the shed. ‘I’ve sorted them by size,’ says Colin, animatedly. 'I'm saving up to start a museum, to show them off properly.'
Colin does not know where the rubber bands come from, but there are always more each day, except on Sundays and Bank Holidays. ‘They might be brought here by birds, who think they are worms. But then they drop them because they are too chewy. Or they might be pinged out of the windows of passing cars. Or perhaps there is a rubber-clad rubber band fairy who brings them? Nobody knows. It’s a mystery.’
Colin is 58.
A spokesman for the Royal Mail was unavailable for comment.
Image credit: perchance.org