Perfect day for it, cool and cloudy. Such a welcome relief after our midweek heatwave. Apparently a lot of other people felt the same way, because the place was a seething mass of humanity, an extraordinary parade of bargain hunters of all shapes, sizes, cultures and creeds...
I'm growing my vintage china rental business, expanding the existing rental page on my website and stocking the already jam-packed storeroom with more beautiful china. I'm afraid it's becoming a bit of an obsession...Spending far too much time and money on ebay and Craigslist.
However, I have to say that the flea market is really not the place for bargains anymore. Full of horribly overpriced crap. Most vendors want around $25 for a not very attractive cup and saucer and really won't budge on their prices. Ten years ago when I first started going to that particular flea market there were bargains to be had, but not anymore.
I did pick up a few dinner plates from the same crazy guy who's there every month. He looks like a huge bull frog and is probably totally incapable of moving from the chair that his bulky form is spewing out of. He's like an actor in his own, never ending, one man show, making the same outrageous speech over and over again; "treasures galore, picked up from an exclusive estate sale in Beverly Hills, old lady was 99 years old, blah, blah, blah...!" You'd think he'd realize that people are onto him by now! But no....Hey, he obviously thinks it's a good sales pitch and that we're all idiotic enough to buy into his story. No harm done and he certainly adds color to the rainbow of characters that make up the flea market scene.
What I'm really looking forward to is February of next year when I'm off to the UK for a bonanza crockery buying spree. I make a bee line for the small towns in East Anglia where my parents live - the charity shops like Oxfam and Save the Children are always a good bet. Growing up in England and being dragged off to antique fairs as a child has left me an incurable vintage addict.
Believe it or not the English, famed for their afternoon teas, really don't give a toss about that tradition anymore, at least not in their own homes. They'd much rather meet up at Starbucks or Costa Coffee, such a shame. Apparently they now drink more coffee than tea.
Afternoon tea is reserved for special occasions and generally served in the more upscale restaurants and hotels. So when Granny, the last of that generation of lace and doily tea sippers passes on to that tea-room in the sky, her family members don't know what to do with that precious tea set, so, they donate it to the local charity shop, which is where I swoop down and pick up the bargains. Most of the sets are hardly used, because the English have this thing about "saving things for best" - which means they were only used on high days and holidays
And here's where my obsession kicks in: I just adore my collection of crockery! I remember where I purchased them and the stories the elderly ladies in the charity shops told me about their past owners. I have to admit to getting quietly upset when something gets broken and give each a little blessing before I carefully place it in its final resting place. Hey, perhaps I should learn to make those crockery mosaic tables or something,and never have to actually throw any of them away...But I think not, I'm afraid I'm no Martha Stewart.
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