A Love Of Jumble Sales

   My post yesterday about finding a lost sixpence brought memories of another found sixpence which I can honestly say started my love of jumble sales forever. I'm sure I'm not alone in looking at crowds queuing at large shopping centres, running to get the latest expensive wide screen TV or fashion item or some other overpriced item they don't really need and feeling annoyance. Then I feel a bit mean because maybe their love of shopping centres is the same as my love of jumble sales, car boot sales and definitely second hand book shops.
    Standing at the entrance to a large field on a Sunday morning looking at cars in the distance I can't help but feel a surge of excitement at what I may find. Even if I don't find anything nice, the thrill is in the search for me and I have found some wonderful treasures over the years. But my big love is Jumble Sales. It's something about the wait outside and the doors opening and that feeling you have a limited time to find the bargains and in my case constantly trying not to be rude and pushy as it was drummed in to me as a child to always be polite! I've lost count of the amount of times I apologise when people push into me. The thing with Jumble Sales is £5 and you feel like a millionaire, who needs to be a lottery winner.

A Local Jumble Sale

   I can pinpoint the moment my love of jumble sales started. I was five years old at school and our teacher told us tomorrow there would be a Bring and Buy Sale that we could attend at the end of the day and we could look round before the parents came to pick us up. I had no idea what a Bring and Buy Sale was but it sounded exciting. The next day my Mum gave me a three penny bit to put in my little school purse and off I went. I can still remember how I felt as I looked around the tables of goods that day. I couldn't believe I could possibly afford any of these beautiful items with just threepence and was too scared to speak. One kindly Mum who was serving asked me if there was anything I liked and I chose a little bead purse. She asked me how much money I had and when I told her threepence she said that was just how much it was. I was overjoyed.
     I can remember clearly skipping all the way home with my Mum regaling the wonders of Bring and Buy Sales to her. When I got home I ran upstairs to examine my wonderful purchase. Inside the purse there was a little zip pocket. I unzipped it and inside was a shiny sixpence. I couldn't believe it a beautiful purse and a profit as well. That was it, I was hooked and still am. Our house is full of fantastic (I think) finds, in fact we probably only have about ten new items in the whole house. That's it, just writing this post and I'm off to search out the local paper and see what local jumble sales are on next week. I feel more cheeful already!