For years I used to go to car boot sales. I was a market
trader and I would wander around flea markets or charity
shops looking for bargains to sell on my stall. I would come
back from these with paintings or antiques or just plain
brick-a-brack. It's an interesting way of life and I recently
started a blog about it called The Charity Shop Rambler
(there's a link on the left of this page) in which I hope to
tell all my car boot and flea market stories. But all the old
markets have been closed in Dublin and there are only
two car boot sales that I know of and they are not what
they used to be. And the days of picking up gems of one
sort or another are finished. People don't seem to get rid
of their old stuff any more.
And the same applies to charity shops. I still go around them
every day as I have nothing else to do but I rarely get
anything worthwhile. The last picture I got in that way was
a small print of James Joyce signed by Harry Kernoff which
I picked up in an Oxfam shop.
Now that the weather is improving I am going to get an
old bike an start checking out all these places. If nothing else
it will give me something to do and with a bike I can travel
further afield.