Town workers vacuum leaves last year. (David Boraks photo)
The town’s leaf vacuum truck is back on neighborhood streets after repairs, but pickups are lagging because of the recent wet weather, town officials say.
“The leaf truck has been back since Dec. 1,” spokeswoman Sara-Lynne Levine said this morning. It’s operating on a normal schedule, though pickups have been slowed down because of rainy weather.
“The problem is that as the leaves get wet, you collect fewer,” Ms. Levine said.
Residents who want to ensure their leaves are picked up soon can bag them and put them on the curb to be collected on Wednesdays with regular trash, Ms. Levine said.
The town had announced on Nov. 21 that the truck was in the shop for repairs.
The leaf truck is scheduled to pick up leaves from streets west of Woodland Street (off Concord Road) on Mondays and Tuesdays, from River Run on Wednesdays, and from streets east of Woodland Street on Thursdays and Fridays. See more information on the town website.
THE LEAF SUCKER SONG
The truck’s absence prompted annoyed residents of the Lorimer Road/South Thompson Street neighborhood off Concord Road to write their own protest song as leaves piled up in their gutters.
Sung to the tune “Feliz Navidad,” it goes something like this:
“The leaf sucking truck, ba-da-ba-ba ba-ba the leaf sucking truck, ba-da-ba-ba ba-ba, the leaf sucking truck has never come and it’s run amok…”
Spotted near S. Thompson Street and Lorimer on Tuesday, Dec. 22, 10:30 a.m.: The Leaf Sucker truck.
An answer to this “prayer”?
—
The Leaf Sucking Truck
(sung to the tune of “Feliz Navidad”)
Composed by “Really Anonymous Citizens” (on the corner of Lorimer and Thompson)
The leaf sucking truck
The leaf sucking truck
The leaf sucking truck
Has not been seen in at least 3 months
The leaf sucking truck
The leaf sucking truck
The leaf sucking truck
We all Keep raking leaves to the street
This leaf stuff is scary business
This growing mess is very senseless
It might take an act of congress
To get leaves to stop blowing in my yard
The leaf sucking truck
The leaf sucking truck
The leaf sucking truck
Has been missing so long it makes us mad
The leaf sucking truck
The leaf sucking truck
The leaf sucking truck
The street so filled it makes driving bad
This leaf stuff is scary business
The street piles they grow in thickness
They may remain until the summer solstice
As they blow back in my yard
The leaf sucking truck
The leaf sucking truck
The leaf sucking truck
I fear it turned into a nomad
The leaf sucking truck
The leaf sucking truck
The leaf sucking truck
Maybe we’ll find it in Baghdad
This leaf stuff is scary business
This leaf stuff is hairy business
My yard is a crazy wilderness
The wilderness is coming out of my lawn
——
Alas, the truck was seen later in the morning with a flat tire.