Books. Books. Books.

One of my maniacal garage saling/verge gleaning friends came to town this week for a holiday. It was the end of the Easter/Anzac Day very long weekend.

Day 1.  Tip Shops.  We checked the local one, which is on the right track but doesn't seems to recycle as much as it could.  I snaffled a book - 10 Days That Shook the World by John Reed.  I had a copy but the golden retriever ate it some years ago. There were also a couple of rusty bits and pieces. We decided to trek westwards to neighbouring Denmark (not Scandinavia but certainly not here).  

We were delighted and surprised to find the Anglican Opshop open for business and positively hopping. You have to love $5 a bag day.  I found a fabulous book which contains nothing but old photos of people and their dogs.  It's just lovely.  My attitude of fiscal restraint continued, due to an impending holiday and the interval to payday.

I did invest in a famous Denmark pie. We stocked up on yummy fresh baked bread and spinach and feta scones, took in the local colour, observed the natives in their habitat (the main street), and headed to the Tip Shop.

The Denmark Tip shop is so very special. Nothing goes to waste, but I am always surprised to see how much new house stuff, unused, gets tossed - especially kitchen and bathroom sinks and fittings.  I would probably think about the purchase and install the one I bought, but maybe that's just me.  Certainly seems wasteful but at least they get recycled there.  NOT so sure about the manky used toilet seats. Sometimes it's OK not to re-use things.

There are 3 sheds now. The best bit for me is the treasure house with the huge metal trays and tins of rusty nuts, bolts, fixtures and fittings.  It truly gladdens a girl's heart, especially a girl like my friend who lives in an uncivilised area without such places.  We wiled away a happy hour and a half, examining every corner, workshopping possible projects. She grinned like a loon and kept saying 'oooh lovely' in her Geordie accent. It really shouldn't be possible to have that much fun for $3.

Day 3.  Opshops. We have 11 opshops in this city.  It's possible to do them all in one day if you are really focused.  We aren't, most of the time, and can get distracted, so we split them over 2 days.  Dietary subsistence: chocolate frogs from the RSPCA shop.

Day 4.  The other half of the opshops. The school holidays, 2 daughters in tow, half price sale at Good Sammies.  Good grief, it's like herding cats.  Drinks later at the loverly Liberte, curled up on the couch, not watching that wedding, french champagne.  Nice.

Note to self: sometime I must ask why the same round was $24 the first time and $30 the second.  It can give a place a bad rep.

Day 5.  Garage sales - nothing much, but you have to be there and there's always something to look at. The State Library book sale - tables and tables and tables of books.  Me. Book sale. Oops.  I called it quits when I was dragging my two bags along the floor.  I tried to lift one onto a shoulder and almost killed a pensioner. Why is it that you see things in other people's hands and suddenly they become desirable?  I considered mugging someone for the hardback mint complete works of Oscar Wilde, but I would have had to let go of the books I already had. I got to come home and sit in the sun and look at them and decide which I liked best. 

Day 6.  Tomorrow.  Garage sales and my friend wants to squeeze in another tip shop trip before she returns to the frontier of civilisation.  And maybe just a couple of opshops on Monday, who can say.