We spent this Christmas at my husband's Mother's house with two of her friends. For our Christmas dinner, which in the UK is normally lunch time on the 25th, she prepared a big roast goose. We thoroughly enjoyed Christmas day, the meals, chatting and games before we left for home at night. We took bags of recycling papers from her house and stopped by a recycling skip at a supermarket on the way home. At that time, the incident happened.
紙をボックスに入れている際に、なんと夫が結婚指輪をボックスの中に落としてしまったのです！！巨大な金属のボックスは南京錠、鎖でロックされていて開けられず、 ２５、２６日はクリスマス祝日でスーパーには誰もいません。リサイクルが回収されてしまったら大変と急いで帰宅し、発電機、電動のこぎり、懐中電灯などを積み込み、現場に戻りました。鎖を断ち切るなんて発想、よく出てきたものです（犯罪では・・・）。発電機がものすごい音をたてた際には、近所の人が不審者（＝私たち）に気づいて警察呼ぶんじゃないかと不安になりましたが、発電機は働かなかったようで、夫は手動のこぎりに切り替え、鎖を切り、蓋を開けました。夫の日頃のＤＩＹ(do-it-yourself)＝日曜大工根性万歳。２人でボックスに侵入し、クリスマス深夜2時間以上、指輪が落ちたあたりを探索。それでも全体の約１０分の１くらいでしょうか。箱の大きさが想像できるかと思います。（しかもボックスはほぼ満杯でした。）
When my husband shook out a bag of paper he lost his wedding ring inside the skip !!
The huge metal enclosed skip was padlocked and couldn't be opened. There was nobody around or in the supermarket which closed on the 25th and 26th for Christmas. Worried that the skip might soon be emptied, we returned home at once before returning with a power generator, an electric saw, torches and so on. The idea of cutting off the padlock was beyond my conception, and also could be a crime. When the generator produced a tremendous noise, I was worried if someone had noticed us and called the police. But the generator didn't work well, so he switched to a manual hacksaw, and his DIY spirit paid off. We opened the lid and entered the skip. At Christmas midnight, we spent more than 2 hours inside, checking the area with torches where the ring dropped, which contained ONLY about 1/10 of all the papers. You can imagine how big the skip was (Also it was almost full.)
クリスマスのごちそうのカロリーはしっかり消化できたものの、努力空しく指輪は見つからず、その夜は帰宅。 翌朝から夫は電話でスーパー、リサイクル業者に連絡、ボックス探索許可にこぎつけました。しかも、ローカルラジオ番組（ＢＢＣラジオコーンウォール）に電話して金属探知機を貸してくれる人を募ったところ（夫が生で電話出演！）、何件かの助けを申し出る電話をいただきました。３つの金属探知機を借りられたばかりか、なんと何人か探索作業自体のお手伝いに来てくれることになったのです。
Our efforts consumed our Christmas feast's calorie satisfactorily but bore no fruit. We called it a day (night?) and next morning my husband telephoned the supermarket head office and the paper recycling company and managed to get a permission for the skip hunting. On top of that, he called a local radio station, BBC Radio Cornwall, asking if anyone would lend us a metal detector. After his story and request had been on air, we received several heart-warming offers, not only offers of 3 metal detectors, but also help for searching with us.
ペーパーリサイクルボックスが２つ並んでいるので、リサイクル回収業車に、指輪を落としたボックスをそのままに、別のボックスを空にしてもらい、中身を少しずつチェックして空になったボックスに入れていくという作業計画をたてました。そして作業予定日前夜、深夜の回収業者さんがボックスを間違わないように念のために現場で待っていました。すると！彼らのトラックが故障してその日回収が不可能になってしまったとのこと。いやはや、トラブルが次から次へ・・・。
やむなく翌日探索予定を全キャンセル、翌々日は土曜日でスーパーが忙しいとのことで、さらに延期になって作業は３０日日曜日の朝に。その日には指輪入りのボックスははちきれんばかりに満杯で、空になったはずのボックスにはすでに半分くらい紙で埋まっていました。
There were two paper recycling skips side be side. Our plan was to ask for the recycle collection truck to leave the one containing the ring and to empty the other during the night, so that we could move things from the full skip to the emptied one little by little checking for the ring as we scanned with the detectors.
The night before the day of action, we went to the skips in order to make sure the right skip was emptied. Then we found the recycling lorry had broken down and couldn't empty either skip. One trouble after another, what a mess!
Inevitably, we had to postpone our plan for two days, avoiding Saturday, one of the busiest days for the supermarket. By the first feasible day, Sunday 30th, our target skip was bursting full and the one which had been emptied was already half full.
２人で朝９時に作業開始、ラジオを聞いて親切に手伝いを申し出てくれたご夫婦、おじいちゃんと孫、私の友人が１０時に合流。７人と金属探知機３台で地道に作業を続け、１１時すぎ、３分の１くらい減ったところでしょうか、指輪を発見できたのです！
発見したのは夫本人で、金属探知機ではありませんが、貸してくれた人達、作業に協力してくれた人達に本当に感謝。 さらに協力してくれたスーパーの店長さん、リサイクル回収業者さん、ラジオ局の方にも本当にお世話になりました。作業のためにロードコーンを置きにきてくれた警察の方にも。あ、ちなみに壊したチェーン代、いらないって言われましたが小切手送りました。
We started operations at 9.00 in the morning and our helpers, who heard our saga from the radio, a couple, grandfather grandson, and our friend joined us at 10.00. 7 of us and 3 metal detectors worked step by step. When we had finished about 1/3 of the skip around 11.00, the ring was found.
The person who found it was actually my husband himself, not a metal detector, nevertheless, we were extremely grateful to those who lent us detectors, and needless to say, to those who helped us on the spot. We were also thankful to the helpful supermarket manager, recycling collection workers, the radio personalities and the police who came to put out road cones for our operations. By the way, we sent a cheque to replace the padlock we broke although they said no need.
今回、様々な人の親切に感動しましたが、夫の根性と行動力にも感心しました。私ならあきらめていたでしょう。私があげたものなので、頑張って探してくれたようです。クリスマスの夜、箱の中で過ごしたなんて今はいい思い出です。Throughout this happening I was moved by kindness from various people and by my husband's determination and power of action. If I were him, I would have given up. He tried to find it very hard because I gave it to him. Now it is a sort of good memory that we spent Christmas night in the box together.
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