I have documented free things seen around Brooklyn, New York City, in these humble pages. For example, I have reported on five free desks across three articles – one on Hamilton Avenue, three in Carroll Gardens and Columbia Street Waterfront District, and one in Brooklyn Heights. In those cases I did not take any desks home, although I do have a free desk story in my front room that I still need to write about. I also have a discarded monitor that I picked up for free that I should also write about. That one will be hard to forget since I am looking at it as I type this. But I digress. In today’s article, I will cover a free thing that I did not take home with me. I present an air conditioner seen in Carroll Gardens:
I came across this free air conditioner with note on the evening of August 4, 2026. I appreciate free stuff that comes with signs. That was one reason I published the three desk articles. Signs also featured in my report on a free robotic litter box (did not take home), pink chalkboard (did not take home), a “hardly used” toilet (did not take home), and water (took home). Above we have a large window air conditioner. Its former owner not only assures us that it works, but also that it is powerful, a “VERY STRONG” “10,000 BTU.” But all good things come with trade-offs. Here, the trade-off was obvious to me from just looking at the thing. I quote from the sign:
Just Heavy 🙂
I have carried heavy and awkward things home in recent years. Not counting carrying two bags of laundry every week, both the desk I mentioned before and the monitor I am looking at now made for unpleasant carrying experiences. So too have things I carried home from Ikea. Carrying groceries from Mr. Beet when it was sub-20 degrees during the winter also could have been more fun (even with gloves, not the best). With that experience behind me, I dare say that air conditioner would prove to be the worst of all. Not only do I imagine it was heavy, but it was also large. I doubt I could easily get my arms around it. Fortunately, I had no need for a new air conditioner and even if I did, that thing would not fit in any of my windows. I believe it was gone the next time I walked by. My detective’s intuition suggests to me that being situated by the curb made it easy for someone with a car or truck to haul it off to a loving new home.
I will note that while I do not think I could have walked off with that air conditioner, I did once single-handily lift a car out of the snow (“single-handily” and “lift” may be operative in that case).
