An elderly resident of Cootamundra, New South Wales, Australia died and left behind around 1500 cement garden gnomes. Not knowing what to do with them, the executor of the will contacted the Australian Gnome Convention for advice on disposing of them.
Convention organiser and "Gnome Master'' David Cook said he did not hesitate in organising the rescue party when contacted about the homeless little folk.
"We didn't want to see them put in a skip and taken to the tip and all smashed up,'' Mr Cook said.
I believe that means they didn't want to see the gnomes thrown away. A four-member team traveled 800 kilometers to pack up the gnomes of all sizes.They will be painted and refurbished, and will appear at the 2010 Australian Gnome Convention on January 26th. Link -via Arbroath
(image credit: Australian Gnome Convention)
“We didn’t want to see them put in a skip and taken to the tip and all smashed up,” This actually means that they didn't want them placed in the back of a locked vehicle (ie skip) and taken to a gnome fighting ring (ie tip) where they will fight each other in bouts (ie all smashed up).
“Gnome Master” David Cook is a well known greenie, left, peacenik, agitator who interferes in gnome affairs. Gnomes like fighting as seen in their close cousins dwarfs in LOTR.
This is not neat. They will be knitting doilies all day.
skip = dumpster
tip = landfill or dump
So the full translation would be:
"We didn't want to see them put in a dumpster and taken to the landfill and all smashed up."