Tim Dowling 

David Sedaris? Who? Oh, you mean the local litter-picker

Tim Dowling: The US humorist has had a waste vehicle – 'Pig Pen Sedaris' – named after him in West Sussex. So is he flattered?
  
  

US author David Sedaris
Local hero: US author David Sedaris (second from right) and the bin lorry dedicated to him by Horsham district council. Photograph: Publicity image Photograph: Publicity image

This week the West Sussex County Times reported that a local resident has been uniquely honoured. "South Downs litter picker has truck named after him," announced the headline, above an article reporting that the truck in question was a waste vehicle, christened "Pig Pen Sedaris" after the litter-picker in question, one David Sedaris.

"David Sedaris is a familiar and very welcome sight in the lanes and by-ways of this lovely part of Horsham District," said district councillor Diane van der Klugt, "as he tirelessly and painstakingly goes about gathering up the litter so thoughtlessly discarded." In the accompanying picture, the honouree himself is standing alongside the truck. The caption identifies him as "David 'Pig Pen' Sedaris".

There was no mention in the article of the local eccentric's day job, as a best-selling author, Grammy-nominated humorist, prolific radio contributor, US chat show regular and internationally celebrated figure whose books (seven million of which are in print) have been translated into 25 languages.

It's not as if Sedaris himself is trying to keep these two strands of his life – famous writer and obsessive tidier of West Sussex – separate. As recently as a month ago he detailed his three-year-old litter-picking habit in the New Yorker. "You can tell where my territory ends and the rest of England begins," he wrote. "It's like going from the rose arbor in Sissinghurst to Fukushima after the tsunami."

In fact he even mentioned that he would soon be getting a waste vehicle named after him. At the time he may or may not have been aware that a giant cartoon pig would be painted on its side, next to the words "Thanks David for helping to keep the area clean." If he's less than flattered by the association, he's not showing it in the picture.

Sedaris's example has now inspired Horsham District Council to launch an "Adopt a Street" scheme to encourage residents to sign up as volunteer litter-pickers. "Do it enough and you might one day get a garbage truck named after you," Mr Sedaris told the West Sussex County Times. "It's an amazing feeling."

 

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