The Pursuit of Redemption me, I'm mostly green. Not that I go out of my way to be so. Just normal everyday things. Water conservation; when I'm running water, I actively think about if it's necessary to keep it running to accomplish the task at hand. Little things. Recycling. I recycle paper and such. A lot of it ends up being consumed in fires that I have from time to time. Maybe not the greenest way, but it's not piled up in a landfill somewhere. Also recycle bottle and cans, nothing to difficult about that. Just throwing the used container into a different bin. When it came to empty beer cans (ewe, don't like beer from a can) and bottles they would just go in the bin with the other glass and cans. Or if there was a bunch of them, like from a party, my brother would take them in and get the 5 cents deposit that is charged on each container. I've brought back beer bottles and cans in my younger days. Then the consumption level would make bringing back the emptys actually worth a few bucks. But lately I don't drink as much as I used to. Recently we had a rather large Labor Day party. The party was actually to celebrate a few things. My 50th day of life, my daughter's going off to college and a couple of other lesser things. Naturally there was a lot of trash afterward. In the trash was a considerable amount of empty beer bottles, enough to warrant a trip to the redemption center to cash them in and collect the deposit. I have to admit I haven't turned in a beer bottle for redemption of the deposit for some time now. I knew they had collection machines for cans and bottles but never really gave any thought to their operation. I guess it would make sense that these machines would somehow compact the emptys to put a lot more into a smaller space. So it would just seem that the cans would be crushed allowing them to occupy about a tenth of the physical space they they originally had. Now the bottles, hmm, never really thought about them. Well I found the truth of the matter the other day. One of the local redemption centers is located in a liquor store, makes sense. So I pull up and bring my collection of assorted empty beer bottles into the redemption room. My first look around shows a bunch of machines, okay. Then further inspection tells there is a machine for cans, check. Another for plastic bottles, like soda pop and such. Then the third type is for glass beer bottles, that's me. I set myself up in front of the machine and prepare to begin the process. I'm not sure what to expect as I place my first bottle into this circular 5 inch hole that is closed off by spring shut doors. I push the bottle through the doors and a mechanism actually grabs the bottle from you and starts it on the way to its demise. Next you hear some whirring, I suppose the machine was checking the bar code to ensure that it is in fact a 5 cent deposit bottle. Everything so far clears in my mind as the way it would be. The next step is what took me and actually manifested into the reason for this post. Something in the machine takes and physically breaks the bottle. A clunk or two then you hear the sound of thousands of pieces of glass raining down. Whoa, how cool is that. Immediately a bunch of thoughts pass through my mind. First, now I understand how they compact the bottles for easier transport. Second, my penchant for the sound of breaking glass is on high alert. How great is this? So I put another in. The same process occurs. whir, click, clank, clunk....chink, chink, chink, chink. I'm elated. Ever since I was young I've had this thing for the sound of breaking glass. It stirs something inside of me. I'm not sure the exact reasons why. So for the next 20 minutes or so, my soul was abuzz with the pursuit of redemption.

Could also be used for Teutonic beer parties, I think! In former times there was a door for locking this dungeon, as this part of the basement was used as storage room. The temperatures in this part of the basement are very constant at about +5 C. This is, because they built a long outlet-inlet for fresh air. The air comes from outside, goes through the thick stone wall, arrives in this part of the basement and lets the air be fresh. The outer hole is on a higher level than this in the basement. Maybe, that?s why this cooling system works so well. Behind me, there lived the pigs. And there was this highly comfortable wooden loo. On the left side, there is a ?room? of about 12 m2 behind the wall. But there is no door, no way to get in and to see, what kind of treasures are in it.