Monday 30 November 2015

Vintage Fairs - A Steve Rant

For audio click here
“Did you use to go to jumble sales when you were a kid?” Steve said as Johnny put the glasses down on the table. Johnny looked at his friend; sometimes he wondered how on earth Steve’s brain worked. 
“Of course I did,” Johnny said, “the cubs, the guides, the local schools all had jumble sales around Christmas, sometimes my mum would take us on a jumble sale crawl, two or three in a day, why?”
“I went to one today,” Steve took a long sip of his beer. Only it wasn’t called a jumble sale, guess what it was called.”
“I dunno, a flea market,” Johnny guessed, Steve shook his head, “A car boot sale,” Steve shook again. “I give up,” Johnny said. 
“A vintage fair,” Steve said. “A vintage bloody fair!” Steve looked offended by the words. “A room full of second-hand tat, and they call it a vintage bloody fair.”
“What kind of stuff were they selling?” Johnny asked. 
“Grubby clothes and jewellery that they would sell for a quid in a charity shop but because it is a vintage fair they charge 35 quid. I couldn’t bloody believe it and to make matters worse, people were bloody buying it too.” Steve took a sip of beer.
“Why did you go?” Johnny asked. 
“I dunno, I thought it might be interesting, I was expecting new stuff with a vintage look, you know? I wasn’t expecting a glorified church hall jumble sale. But it was just an array of junk. Oh, and they were selling vintage cake too, vintage cake, it just looked like cake to me. ” 
Johnny laughed.
“There’s a serious point though,” Steve said, “if you go to a charity shop or jumble sale then the money goes to good causes, but if you spend 35 quid at a vintage fair then the money goes into the pocket of some ambulance chaser.”
“Ambulance chaser? Aren’t they American lawyers looking to make rich?” Johnny asked.
“Well, where do these vintage dealers get their clothes from? From doing house clearances after people die, that’s where. And it’s funny how they seem to be able to mirror the latest fashions, they must have warehouses full of the stuff, just waiting for when the sixties come back or the seventies etc.”
“It’s just people trying to make a living Steve,” Johnny said. 
“There’s got to be a better way to make money than selling a dead man’s clothes, and guess what, they charged two quid to get in as well. Scandal.” 
Johnny smiled. “I need a slash,” he said and headed towards the toilets leaving Steve indignantly shaking his head behind him.


1 comment:

  1. Petra Goláňová5 December 2015 at 02:02

    My FLs:
    I couldn’t bloody believe it and to make matters worse, people were bloody buying it too....
    And it’s funny how they seem to be able to mirror the latest fashions, they must have warehouses full of the stuff, just waiting for when the sixties come back or the seventies etc.”

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