Sunday, January 24, 2010
Home from Dorking by 9 o'clock with treasures.
By 9 o'clock this morning we had enjoyed a trip out and we were back home.
Home for a light weight breakfast!
Today we were at the Dorking car boot sale.
Our first point of call is always the one who used to be known as "my man" - because we didn't know his name. He is Michael now. He always has the sort of interesting bits that we want and he seems willing to sell them at knock down prices - anything to get rid of them, it seems.
Bill bought some model fire engines - in their boxes. Then he was persuaded to buy a load of ash trays, pin trays, pen stands etc - all which came with a Matchbox Model of Yesteryear. They were mostly a bit damaged - but for £2 they were worth it for spare parts. Bill has already made 3 or 4 good items out of them.
I bought about 150 nostalgia postcards, a war time Penguin book about warships and a 1935 calendar published by an electricity company with some wonderful prints showing lighting through history. And I have a box of doll's heads. They are plain white - some have been fired unglazed and 2 are glazed. They would appear to be of the Royals - though we can't be sure which ones. Somebody has put labels on saying Princess Margaret and Lord Snowdon - but it doesn't look like Lord Snowdon. There is one of child Princess Ann and that ties in better with the date on them - 1957. They need a little research.
Standing at Michael's stall I got something else I really wanted - good news.
Jo had been in the shop yesterday and she told me that she had sold my Shelley tea set yesterday. Hooray. I loved it, but I have had it 6 months and it was taking up space.
We didn't really buy much else.
If I had more space then something else would have been heaved into the car. I grieve that I had to leave behind an amazing 1930s/50s cocktail cabinet, being sold for £15.
Since then I have been busy getting everything sorted and written up.
I didn't want my purchases strewn all round the kitchen for the week.
Bill has been busy too - cleaning the car was a priority for him.
But also he has tinkered with the heating. With the smell of over heating we were concerned - maybe it would get too hot and burst into flames. We were looking ahead to having to spend quite a lot of money to repair or replace.
Bill had a "Eureka" moment and felt sure he had seen what the problem was. He has mended some faulty wring and hey presto - working heating and no smell.
Can he fix it? Yes, he can!
Bill can fix almost anything.
I had an email from one of Bill's sisters who can remember Uncle Abraham/Jim visiting the Monk family home. It seems he turned up to bid farewell at some point not too long before his death.
She recalls the words "I am 60 and my time is up." and he went on to remember 2 of the other brothers who had died before their time. I presume that all 3 had some form of cancer.
Bill and I were already married at this time - with our 2 little boys. So, Bill would not have been with his parents when his Uncle visited.
Sunday evening is a TV evening just now - Country File, followed by The Antiques Roadshow, followed by Lark Rise.
Soon it will be bed time - we had 2 early mornings this weekend. And Bill has had disturbed nights. On Friday night there was a power cut and when everything came back on it woke Bill. Last night the fox was out on the prowl calling loudly - complaining maybe that its habitat has started to be destroyed.
Tomorrow I have parcels to post in Dorking. I sold 2 books this afternoon on EBay. It will be busy in the shop, getting fresh stock on the shelves and preparing for this week's blog. And we can assume we will enjoy the company of some customers too.
Home for a light weight breakfast!
Today we were at the Dorking car boot sale.
Our first point of call is always the one who used to be known as "my man" - because we didn't know his name. He is Michael now. He always has the sort of interesting bits that we want and he seems willing to sell them at knock down prices - anything to get rid of them, it seems.
Bill bought some model fire engines - in their boxes. Then he was persuaded to buy a load of ash trays, pin trays, pen stands etc - all which came with a Matchbox Model of Yesteryear. They were mostly a bit damaged - but for £2 they were worth it for spare parts. Bill has already made 3 or 4 good items out of them.
I bought about 150 nostalgia postcards, a war time Penguin book about warships and a 1935 calendar published by an electricity company with some wonderful prints showing lighting through history. And I have a box of doll's heads. They are plain white - some have been fired unglazed and 2 are glazed. They would appear to be of the Royals - though we can't be sure which ones. Somebody has put labels on saying Princess Margaret and Lord Snowdon - but it doesn't look like Lord Snowdon. There is one of child Princess Ann and that ties in better with the date on them - 1957. They need a little research.
Standing at Michael's stall I got something else I really wanted - good news.
Jo had been in the shop yesterday and she told me that she had sold my Shelley tea set yesterday. Hooray. I loved it, but I have had it 6 months and it was taking up space.
We didn't really buy much else.
If I had more space then something else would have been heaved into the car. I grieve that I had to leave behind an amazing 1930s/50s cocktail cabinet, being sold for £15.
Since then I have been busy getting everything sorted and written up.
I didn't want my purchases strewn all round the kitchen for the week.
Bill has been busy too - cleaning the car was a priority for him.
But also he has tinkered with the heating. With the smell of over heating we were concerned - maybe it would get too hot and burst into flames. We were looking ahead to having to spend quite a lot of money to repair or replace.
Bill had a "Eureka" moment and felt sure he had seen what the problem was. He has mended some faulty wring and hey presto - working heating and no smell.
Can he fix it? Yes, he can!
Bill can fix almost anything.
I had an email from one of Bill's sisters who can remember Uncle Abraham/Jim visiting the Monk family home. It seems he turned up to bid farewell at some point not too long before his death.
She recalls the words "I am 60 and my time is up." and he went on to remember 2 of the other brothers who had died before their time. I presume that all 3 had some form of cancer.
Bill and I were already married at this time - with our 2 little boys. So, Bill would not have been with his parents when his Uncle visited.
Sunday evening is a TV evening just now - Country File, followed by The Antiques Roadshow, followed by Lark Rise.
Soon it will be bed time - we had 2 early mornings this weekend. And Bill has had disturbed nights. On Friday night there was a power cut and when everything came back on it woke Bill. Last night the fox was out on the prowl calling loudly - complaining maybe that its habitat has started to be destroyed.
Tomorrow I have parcels to post in Dorking. I sold 2 books this afternoon on EBay. It will be busy in the shop, getting fresh stock on the shelves and preparing for this week's blog. And we can assume we will enjoy the company of some customers too.
