I held in my two hands a cardboard box of card and paper. As I crossed the street towards the recycling bank, I spotted two tall young blokes heading towards me, also carrying cardboard boxes.

What a coincidence. Must be a clean out weekend.

I knew I would get to the dumpster first and worried about making awkward conversation.

At the dumpster, my hopes for a quick getaway were thwarted. My low profile cardboard box was still too tall for the opening. It was stuck. I mashed it uselessly.

‘Punch it!’ said the first bloke who reached me.

I whacked box with my palm. It slipped a little further in. Encouraged, I jumped up and used the momentum to power my next pound. Jump-Pound! Jump-Pound!

‘Punch it! Punch it!’ the guy urged, grinning.

His friend had caught up with us and admired, ‘I love the violence.’

Fwoomp! The box fell in and this short jumping Chinese girl gave a triumphant, ‘Ha!’

I then scurried away, missing out on seeing how the boys would get their larger boxes into the same bin gap.