Any Repair Shops Still Out There?

 Yesterday was a work all day, day. I have always tried to work six hours a day but some days in the last couple of years it has been hard to do this many, so I'm always doing mental arithmetic to make up to the total over the week. I think of it in two hour blocks and if I get up early I can fit in a two hour block between 6 and 8 am and other evenings I will work from 9 to 11 pm. No matter what happens in my week I juggle around these two hour slots until I have made up my time.  Yesterday I managed to bank a couple of extra two hour slots so I'm feeling quite pleased with myself.
   I didn't have much time spare for anything else but I did get out my old 1970s Roberts radio in the evening. I can look at this and remember those early episodes of Junior Choice with Ed "Stewpot" Stewart progressing to all those David Cassidy songs through my teenage years and then evenings struggling to keep the signal on Radio Luxembourg.
   Junior Choice! I had almost forgotten about it until I looked at this radio. It was full of sing a long songs and Sunday mornings were always spent listening to them on this little radio, I searched out a playlist from the show and Tom and I spent the evening singing songs I had forgotten all about (much to our youngest son and daughter's horror!). Ernie by Benny Hill, White Horses by Jackie, Morningtown Ride by The Seekers and Champion The Wonder Horse by Frankie Lane. They were all favourites on Junior Choice.
   I had thought for a while I must get my little 1970s Robert's radio fixed and buying our caravan has pushed me into trying. Are there any radio repair shops still out there? I'm determined to try and find one. Sadly it won't play music from those happy days but at least when I look at it I can remember!

    When I was walking back from the shops yesterday evening there was a sign in the charity shop window saying 50% of all bric a brac so I am off there this morning to see if I can find any good buys to sell on ebay. I hope everyone has a good day.

Walking In The Rain

   We seem to have spent a lot of the time doing just that over the weekend. Not that I'm really complaining as I am enjoying these lighter evenings and we have been able to take the dogs to the park every evening in the last week. It's a lovely feeling to know we have months of evening walks in the light ahead of us. On Sunday we took the dogs to Epsom Downs and the rain held off while we walked for miles around the the edge of the racecourse.

   Little Cassie runs and runs to keep up with Bud our Border Collie. The ground was really wet after all the rain and because she is so close to the ground and needs a trim very badly by the end of the walk she frankly looked like a tatty little drowned rat! I felt embarrassed walking back through the car park with her. So yesterday was bath and trim day. She hates going to the dog groomers and I have to drag her in. They are all very nice there but I only have to walk towards the door and I can feel her little heart pounding in her chest. So this time I borrowed my youngest sons beard trimmer and tidied her up myself. It may not be quite as good as them but at least she wasn't stressed and it saved us £25.

  We also managed to fit in our first car boot sale of the year at Dorking which was very successful for building up my Ebay and Etsy stock and I came home with carrier bags full of bargains. This was my favourite find.

    It's a battery operated "Cheerful Dachshund" that walks and barks. It is perfect and looks as it it has never been played with. I think it is from the 1960s. Another find I made is this Wedgwood Jasper Ware pin tray with a panda eating bamboo. Jasper Ware is pretty common when you are out and about but I have never seen this subject on one before.

  And finally something I am going to keep for myself is this hip flask I bought for 40p. I have cleaned it out well with boiling water and I'm going to take it with me on days out as a water bottle in my quest to cut down on plastic. 

   My youngest son laughed when he saw it "You can't drink out of that when you are out Mum, people will think you have taken to day time drinking." he said. Well I'm not bothered what people think and maybe on one of those rainy walks with the dogs a little tot of something isn't a bad idea!

Buying And Selling On Ebay And Etsy

I have decided in the last couple of weeks to start selling on ebay again. I have mixed feelings about ebay but it does give me a really nice extra income. The problem is the fees are very high now and also the percentage of items that sell has really dropped over the years. When I started selling in 1999 about 90% of the items I put on sold now over a month only about 25% of items sell. The other problem is the "ebay community". The sections I sell in for vintage and toys are not too bad just the occasional very strange encounter but when I sold some designer sunglasses for my eldest daughter I strayed into a whole different world! Some of the rudest and frankly most stupid people you could imagine emailed me constantly. It was a soul destroying experience.
   So as well as re opening my ebay shop I have started an Etsy one to try this out and stock it with a few extra vintage items. So far the few people I have sold to have been very nice and the fees are not so high. I shall give them both a go and have opened them up with stock I had left over from selling before. I wonder if anyone else has had experience selling with Etsy?
  As Tom was working today I thought I would go on a walk around the local area checking out all the charity shops. There is a brilliant one opened near us which is an overspill of small items from our local charity saleroom which I thought I would visit first and I wasn't disappointed. The first thing I found was a tatty little book filled with poems, paintings and pressed wildflowers compiled by a young girl called Marjorie who received the book as a birthday present in 1913.

   There are messages from First World War soldiers and lines from songs at the time. Her full name and address is recorded on the first page and I can't wait to find out more about her. I know by the time I have researched her I won't be able to sell this as I will feel like she is an old friend!  For £5 it was my find of the day even though it is quite tatty I am thrilled.

    I found other little items which I will put straight up for sale like this silver plated children's rabbit mug.

   A box of four charming 1930s or 40s table mats. I love the roses on these and I'm going to have to be very firm with myself part with them. 

    I also found a selection of soft toys around the other charity shops which always sell over time. I spend ages photographing them to try and make them look as cute as possible. Like this ...

Or this .....

to try and get the best chance of them being bought. With an estimated 40% of toys ending up in landfill within three months of purchase I hope I'm playing a small part in encouraging reusing and recycling. These toys have been barely played with. It seems such a shame.

Cleaning Up Vintage Jewellery Finds

   I'm always on the look out for vintage costume jewellery. I am very mean with how much I will pay for an item. What I really like finding is a box of dirty neglected jewellery that needs cleaning up and sorting through. Luckily twice in the last few months I have found this. One was at a recent jumble sale. I found a little opticians box from the 1920s with dirty bits of jewellery in. I never even bother studying jewellery at jumble sales I just say how much and pay it, I don't think I have ever spent more than £2 for a box full and if you put it down for a second someone else will have it! In this opticians box was a few pretty brooches and a 1950s necklace with matching clip on earrings. I have already cleaned up and sold the 1950s necklace and earrings for a very nice profit but the other item that really caught my eye was this bracelet. It was so dirty you couldn't even see the colour of the stones. I washed it in ordinary washing up liquid with a soft brush and was thrilled to find this lovely old bracelet under the dirt. I don't know what the stones are but I am definitely keeping this, I love it.

  The other little lot was at a car boot sale. There were three items in a little bag. I asked the old man who was selling them how much and he told me he had no idea really of the value of them. He said he did a house clearance where the old lady had died and these were in her dressing table drawer. You can have them for 50p each. Despite feeling so sad for the old lady I was very pleased with my buys, One was a little string of pearls with a lovely diamante detail. My youngest daughter loved it so much when I took it home I gave it to her. She wears them all the time when she is out out in her vintage clothes. The other two items were this pretty little necklace with tiny mother of pearl birds. I'm sure this is very old. Perfect for me as I'm always on the look out for unique jewellery and I love birds!

  The third item was these enamel earrings. I thought they had an art nouveau look to them. I couldn't be more pleased with my thrifty finds and I really hope the old lady would be pleased that her items are being loved and used again.

  A quick add on Sammy the cockatiel still can't fly and is very wobbly on her legs but she rather annoyingly whistled along loudly to Frank Sinatra last night whilst we were watching him on the TV so she must be feeling quite bright despite it all!

Where Have All The Post Offices Gone?

  I was up at the crack of dawn today packing up all my parcels from weekend sales on ebay. Monday is my busiest day for posting and it is extra busy at the moment with lots of toys and gift items being sold and it was box after box all morning. Heres one I can't use now.

   I struggled up to the post office with 13 parcels and realised there was quite a queue. When it was my turn at the counter I could feel the hatred from a dozen pairs of eyes boring into the back of my head with every parcel I put on the scales. There is only one little counter and I'm sure I would hate me if I was behind me. I kept apologising and smiling and saying nearly finished now but most of the people still looked at me as if I had killed a close relative of theirs.
  I felt like saying this is not my fault. I can't help it if Royal Mail has been privatised and post offices have been shut all over the country. It's not my fault we have one post office counter within a 3 mile radius in a highly populated area. I'm sure it would have fallen on deaf ears though. Oh dear, I have got to face this every day until Christmas.

Vintage Or Retro?

We went to the local Charity Saleroom this morning and they were very excited to tell us that they had opened a new vintage room. It has changed hands recently as the man who used to own the place has gone into an old peoples home. They certainly had gone to a lot if trouble and have clearly worked ever so hard as the whole place is looking much more organised. (Women in charge now I thought to myself!) But for the kind of things I sell I wonder if it will really help me. The prices are much higher in there and lots of the things I know don't really sell that well.

    It's all been so nicely arranged though and I didn't want to hurt their feelings so I did buy a very old pair of Laurel and Hardy dolls in their original old clothes but they were £8 and I'm not really sure how well they will sell.

   I tend to find on ebay that it's retro that sells well as people love to feel nostalgic about times gone by. Yet luckily for me lots of people selling don't seem to realise that. I have made more from 1970s kitchen items than Victorian ones. I wouldn't be surprised if I make a bigger profit on this 1980s Edd the Duck than any of the really old things, and he was only £1.

  I'm not quite sure what category the next item, a metal cat wine bottle holder, fits into but I thought it was really cute. I thought it would sell well to a cat lover who would love it for their Christmas table. 

    My youngest son, who has definitely inherited the hoarding gene that runs through our family looked at the metal cat and this is how the conversation went. "You're not selling that are you. Couldn't we just keep it for Christmas. It would look so nice on the Christmas table." "If we keep it for Christmas we'll end up giving it a name and then I will never sell it." "I have already given it a name, Professor." Oh dear I can see how this is going to end up.

Little Lost Toys

    Something I really enjoy buying and selling on ebay are toys. I cannot resist the little cute faces looking at me at jumble sales or car boot sales and I love to think of them being enjoyed again in a new home. I really should never have watched Toy Story. This little Russ Bear called Amelia caused much ridicule amongst other dealers when I purchased her but she sold within days and is off to a new home in France!

   I don't make vast profits on them but they sell quickly and keep a regular steady profit coming in. They are also very easy to find. Character toys sell well and these two sold within a couple of days. I spend ages photographing them to make them look as cute as possible so they have the best chance of finding a home. There's no hope really!

     

I'm always on the lookout for little lost dolls and found this one face down in an old box. She cost 50p and she was filthy but I cleaned her up and used upholstery cleaner on her little fabric body. 

   I searched all summer for an outfit to fit her and finally found one for 20p at the last car boot sale of the season. I hope she sells to a new home but at the moment she is sitting on a shelf in my office looking very pleased with herself. I joke with my family that she will sell in the end as one day she will be an antique. I say when you take all my old junk to Antiques Roadshow when I am dead and gone it will all be worth a fortune. They look far from convinced but you never know!

Feeling Rather Old But I Don't Really Care!

    The other week Tom and I went to a jumble sale at the local scout hall which was on a Friday evening. Just before we left my eldest son gave me a ring before he left for a night out with some friends. I can't stay long I explained to him as we are going to a Jumble Sale and I don't want to miss all the first bargains. Eldest son roared with laughter "Oh my goodness it's Friday night and you're off to a Jumble Sale you two really are living the high life." Tom and I couldn't stop laughing as we set off agreeing we are so easily pleased now. Our packed social life in the early 80s is just a distant memory.
    Despite being made to feel ancient we had a really successful time and bought lots of fantastic items for virtually nothing. The boy scouts were all so polite and helpful. This was my favourite item, a wooden pencil case from probably the 1930s, still with the little girls name on it. What ever happened to Norah Smith I wonder?

    I found some old wooden tennis rackets in their wooden presses, just like I had at school, and wondered if they would sell on ebay. I decided against them and put them down and walked away. As if I hadn't been made to feel ancient enough that evening, I heard one of the little boy scouts say to another "What are these, they look like snow shoes." His friend replied "Oh no they are tennis rackets from the olden days!"
    Tom and I had laughed all the way there and we laughed all the way home. As we sat down later that evening with a cup of tea and a piece of toast each we had to admit the high life was a long time ago but you know what we don't really care!
 

A Blustery Day

    It has been a really windy day today. I had to go for a blood test before a minor op as a day case the week after next. The only thing left open at Sutton Hospital is a little pre fab unit for blood tests. The rest of the building is either demolished or all boarded up now. I don't think many people are aware this little unit is there so I dashed in and out with only one person in front of me and Tom and I set off for the charity saleroom to buy some more stock before he had to go back to work. I only bought a few bits but did manage to find some really nice silver plated items which will look lovely when I have cleaned them up. Sometimes I can hardly bear to put the items up for sale but I try and be firm with myself as my little Nostalgic Store is not going to build up with me keeping all the stock!
    The wind had really got up when we returned and the barometer has dropped significantly which is never a good sign. I'm not really frightened of heights but this telephone engineers up a pole on a windy day is a braver man than me! He's not even holding on. Apparently there is a named storm heading our way in the next few days. So I think we better check all the chicken runs and hope our old roof tiles survive.

Buying From Hard Nosed Dealers

   Today we went to a regular car boot sale at Wimbledon Dog Track. I love this car boot sale as it is full of dealers who do house clearances. But Tom hates it as he says the dealers are too rough and rude! Every stall has a large van full of boxes that are just plonked on the ground to rummage through and you have to battle with other dealers to get the best items. My hands are filthy after half an hour here and I must admit the first thing I do when I get back to the car is use antiseptic hand gel!
    Most of the dealers are great you can have a bit of banter with them as you try and knock down their prices even though they are pretty rough and ready. Now I am no shrinking violet, I have worked in a busy casualty department and as a psychiatric nurse so I am not upset by bad language and can stand up for myself fine in difficult situations but there are few dealers who are just rude and aggressive. As I look through the boxes I can see so many fantastic retro 60s and 70s items that are just smashed to bits as these morons just chuck them into the boxes and have no idea that cleaned up they would be worth quite a bit of money. As everyone is roughly looking through more and more items are getting broken of some poor old person's prized possessions.
    In one box I found a framed photo of an adorable little girl. The frame was already chipped and I thought of her parents dressing her in her Sunday best to have her photo taken and here she was in a box surrounded by filthy items and bad language. That's it you are coming home with me I thought. She was £1 and worth every penny.

   Talking of bad language I was looking at one stall where the dealer was telling the dealer on the next stall about one woman who had dared to offer him too low a price for something he was selling. "I told her F--- Off. I said. Infact you can F--- right off out of here." The dealer on the next stall nodded in agreement. "You're too polite mate" he said " I would have said something much worse" Oh dear.

   By the end of the morning I had some great items to sell and even though it was freezing cold I still think you can't beat a London car boot sale. I may put the little girl up for sale or I may just keep her on our wall at home where I know she will be appreciated.

Making A Profit On Ebay

   Tom was off work today and we went to the Charity Saleroom to try and build up our stock for selling on ebay. We have thought of lots of ideas in the weeks to come to increase our profits. As we got out of the car a man who was getting out of the car next to us said to his friend "Right we have to find everything that will make a profit on ebay." I laughed to Tom "Not if we get there first!" I found a few little bits including a really kitsch 1950s ships wheel letter rack from Eastbourne. I really love it it's the kind of thing I remember in my Grandma's house. I also bought some 1960s paperback books. The finds I was most pleased with though was a large collection of vintage linens.
   Most of the items at the saleroom are from house clearances from old people who have either died or gone into an old people home. There were boxes everywhere that had not been unpacked yet. I asked a lovely young girl who was working there if I could have a search through one box of linens. I know I'm very emotional but I could have just cried looking through the box. All the linens were so carefully packed and folded. They were nearly all hand embroidered and in perfect condition most probably from the 1950s and 60s. 1950s headscarves were folded in with a few floral old ladies dresses. It looked like someones life in a box.  It's not just about making money on ebay, I really hope these carefully preserved items are sold to someone who will love them and the old lady's possessions are used again.

Sunday Car Boot Sale

   We set off early to a car boot sale in Epsom today. I love that moment when you arrive at a big car boot sale, it's that feeling of anticipation not knowing what you may find! I always start off with such enthusiasm. I just love people and nearly always have a little chat on the way round, you can meet the most interesting people if you just take the trouble to pass the time of day.

     I have to be honest I was starting to flag by the end, it was beginning to rain which is never good and searching through One Direction duvet covers and books was taking it's toll. I am quite pleased with my buys though and only spent £12 so should be able to make a bit of profit on that. 

    Our eldest daughter came round for dinner today as her boyfriend is policing at the Notting Hill Carnival today and tomorrow.  She is not there this year as she has had a knee injury she has not fully recovered from. Tom and our eldest son are driving an old London bus in the Carnival Parade tomorrow so look out for them on the telly! I hope everyone in the UK has a great Bank Holiday tomorrow and the sun shines on you wherever you are.