Sunday, January 27, 2008
27th Jan A boot sale and our new grandson
I am catching up with days - and so there are 2 blogs today.
The beautiful red skies of yesterday evening (see the blog entry below) did indeed foretell delight - if not for shepherds, but for us.
We were out of the house by half past seven - before sun up.
We took the familiar road out through Charlwood, Leigh and on to Dorking. There have been changes made in Charlwood - gone are the ridiculous cobbles that were laid along the main street. They looked very attractive and may have slowed the traffic just a little, but they wore out very quickly and the constant rumble of traffic going over them must have been a nightmare for residents.
I found being at the car boot sale hard work - physically and mentally. The size of the Dorking sale is quite small, but it did involve walking about, up and down the aisles of stalls. And books are often in boxes on the ground and sellers tend not to bother to have them spine up so that you can see them easily - there has to be much rummaging.
But it was not just that, for I didn't know what to buy. I am so out of practice. And I must bear in mind that in 4 months time I will not have the shop as a place to display and sell things - I should buy only what will sell on EBay (hopefully).
I bought a few books - a couple on the history of Malmesbury in Wiltshire. I paid quite a lot for a Noddy clock - but it does work and is keeping good time.
My best buy of the day was a milk bottle. It was the size that school milk used to come in - a third of a pint. This bottle was supplied by a named farm in Wisborough Green, a Sussex village. It also has a cartoon picture of Mickey Mouse on it with a rhyme about being "bright and gay by drinking milk with Mickey each day". I assume there might be interest from 3 groups of collectors for this bottle. It cost me just a pound. It is on a shelf for now and I will enjoy it for a short while before offering it for sale.
When we got home I chatted a while with Jamie - who had news that my little baby grandson has gone; no longer a baby - he has been changed into a boy!
John doesn't seem very sure that the transformation is a good idea.
But once it was all done he seemed proud to show off his new image.
Jessica most certainly did not have her hair cut. But she was treated to some special pampering - washing the hair and conditioning etc. I think she really approves of the beauty salon way of doing things!
This afternoon Ashley and I talked for a while. He has arranged tickets to come down and stay with us at Easter time. He has such skills at manipulating train fares. The cheapest return fare he could get was £70 - and this is way under the standard charge. But he found that by buying single tickets for each leg of the journey he could save even more. Each ticket cost £17.50 - so half of what the cheapest return fare would have been.
Right the day is creeping to an end - well the sun has set.
There will be a simple meal (with rice for me!) and some TV watching - the ice skating competition and then Larkrise to Candleford. The Antiques Roadshow will be recorded and I can watch that during the week as I complete the lists in my stock file.
I hope all who read this have enjoyed their weekends and I look forward to hearing all the news. I am gradually catching up with personal EMail replies - I can assure you that if you write to me then a reply will arrive in your Inbox at some point.
The beautiful red skies of yesterday evening (see the blog entry below) did indeed foretell delight - if not for shepherds, but for us.
We were out of the house by half past seven - before sun up.
We took the familiar road out through Charlwood, Leigh and on to Dorking. There have been changes made in Charlwood - gone are the ridiculous cobbles that were laid along the main street. They looked very attractive and may have slowed the traffic just a little, but they wore out very quickly and the constant rumble of traffic going over them must have been a nightmare for residents.
I found being at the car boot sale hard work - physically and mentally. The size of the Dorking sale is quite small, but it did involve walking about, up and down the aisles of stalls. And books are often in boxes on the ground and sellers tend not to bother to have them spine up so that you can see them easily - there has to be much rummaging.
But it was not just that, for I didn't know what to buy. I am so out of practice. And I must bear in mind that in 4 months time I will not have the shop as a place to display and sell things - I should buy only what will sell on EBay (hopefully).
I bought a few books - a couple on the history of Malmesbury in Wiltshire. I paid quite a lot for a Noddy clock - but it does work and is keeping good time.
My best buy of the day was a milk bottle. It was the size that school milk used to come in - a third of a pint. This bottle was supplied by a named farm in Wisborough Green, a Sussex village. It also has a cartoon picture of Mickey Mouse on it with a rhyme about being "bright and gay by drinking milk with Mickey each day". I assume there might be interest from 3 groups of collectors for this bottle. It cost me just a pound. It is on a shelf for now and I will enjoy it for a short while before offering it for sale.
When we got home I chatted a while with Jamie - who had news that my little baby grandson has gone; no longer a baby - he has been changed into a boy!
John doesn't seem very sure that the transformation is a good idea.
But once it was all done he seemed proud to show off his new image.
Jessica most certainly did not have her hair cut. But she was treated to some special pampering - washing the hair and conditioning etc. I think she really approves of the beauty salon way of doing things!
This afternoon Ashley and I talked for a while. He has arranged tickets to come down and stay with us at Easter time. He has such skills at manipulating train fares. The cheapest return fare he could get was £70 - and this is way under the standard charge. But he found that by buying single tickets for each leg of the journey he could save even more. Each ticket cost £17.50 - so half of what the cheapest return fare would have been.
Right the day is creeping to an end - well the sun has set.
There will be a simple meal (with rice for me!) and some TV watching - the ice skating competition and then Larkrise to Candleford. The Antiques Roadshow will be recorded and I can watch that during the week as I complete the lists in my stock file.
I hope all who read this have enjoyed their weekends and I look forward to hearing all the news. I am gradually catching up with personal EMail replies - I can assure you that if you write to me then a reply will arrive in your Inbox at some point.
