Morning folks...time to pop the kettle on...make yourselves comfy because this is one long winded saga...if you're a regular visitor here you'll know that I spent Sunday morning at my local car boot...not that I wanted too but I've been threatened with eviction if I don't make an effort to de-clutter the clutter which has taken root in the garage over the years. But any outdoor activity in this country is weather dependent...it's impossible to plan ahead...there may be 52 Sundays in a year but when I'm free it's been persisting with rain and when it's not I'm doing something else. The weather forecast for Sunday was looking good so I bit the bullet and loaded up the car on Saturday night and that's a nightmare in itself...making sure that everything is tightly packed...you definitely don't want anything shooting forward and breaking your neck before you get there. I wasn't very happy when silly o'clock arrived and I had to drag myself out of my cosy slumbers and even more grumpy by the time I'd unloaded the car at the other end...battled with the table which has a mind of it's own and set out my wares for sale and little did I know there was a carrier bag saga about to unfold.
The first customer of the day bought 2 paperbacks for 60p and asked if he could have a bag....poor man looked like a rabbit caught in the headlights when I barked "why can't you bring your own bag"...."surely if you're coming to the car boot you make sure you bring a bag from home" but once the words were out of my mouth there was no taking them back...he rushed off clutching his books like a scolded puppy...leaving me feeling thoroughly ashamed of myself for being so rude and making such a fuss over a plastic carrier...perhaps I should be practising what I preach.
Remember back when our Government were making lots of noise about stopping us mere mortals from contaminating the planet with our excessive use of plastic carriers by bringing in a charge of 5p...£5 a pop might have made us all sit up and take notice about being so wasteful forcing us to re-use last week's shopping carriers but the suggested paltry sum is hardly likely to have the desired effect is it. I buy into the principle of it all but with a memory like mind...putting it into practice is a different story...hence the hundreds of the plastic blighters stockpiled in the car...mind you they might come in handy as back up airbags should the need arise...along with the supermarket hessian ones...the calico jobbies and even the fold up into nothing variety hidden in the depths of my handbag so why do I find myself caught short at the checkout replying "Yes Please" when asked if I need a bag and yet another joins the throng. The moral of the story is "folks who live in glass houses shouldn't throw stones" and I need to engage my brain before I open my mouth.
But it didn't end there...my suitably chastened...lesson learned...happy customer face was seriously tested when a certain very well-dressed but decidedly "nose in the air" snooty "fur coat and nae drawers" woman had me drawing on every last ounce of patience and customer service niceness when she bought 2 M&S sweaters and gave me the mother of all "look down her nose" looks when I went to put them in a Tesco carrier. "I don't want that bag...don't you have a nicer one"...steam began to billow from my ears...oh boy was I tempted to round on her and point out that if you want stuff in a designer bag...why are you buying clothes from a car boot but she needed no help from me to look petty and small so I found one from M&S in the bag mountain...smiled sweetly and said "no problem at all...you enjoy the rest of your day". Such a shame that Mrs Uppity hadn't been the first customer of the day instead of that poor man who bore the brunt of my silly "feeling sorry for myself" tantrum.
But the problem of keeping the grumpy part of "grumpy old woman" in check was the least of my worries when I hopped out of bed yesterday morning...the old woman part was having a major protest...achey back and legs that frankly were struggling to pass each other and the brain wasn't playing ball either when I discovered that the washing machine was swishing away empty and the dirty laundry was whirring around in the tumble dryer...definitely not a day to attempt any crafty stuff...much safer to be sitting on the sofa with coffee and cake and lots of oohing and aahing at the gorgeous goodies that arrived on Saturday from
Craftwork Cards...
but before there can be any playing...it's time to tidy away the demo/workshop supplies abandoned in the cubbyhole since Saturday...
can you tell it's not one of my favourite jobs...
See you all tomorrow over at WOYWW
Hugs Kath xxx
