Recent free or frugal finds

We went to Cornwall last weekend, for a little holiday. What an amazing and exotic place! We had the luxury of a; a car and b; being outside of London - a combo that could lead to only one Saturday plan: CAR BOOT SALE! It was with expectation and excitment coursing through our veins that all six of us (Tim and I, bro and sis and Tim's mum and dad from NZ) piled into cars after breakfast, navigating in trepidation the windy lanes, to discover that I had the time wrong and it wasn't until the afternoon. But after an exploration of a beautiful little fishing village and a scrummy pub lunch we headed back to that muddy field.

And what joy it did bring us. Amongst the endless piles of VHS's and foot spas, we found an old working typewriter for £2, and several old games such as Scrabble, Pit and a dominoes set (that's what you see in the cream case) each bought for between 50 and 70p.
Last week I gallavanted off on the 176 to East Dulwich, in particular the fabulous vintage street of Northcross Road, with it's gourmet fudge and French like antique shops. Not that I could afford anything there; I spent my pennies in the equally delicious charity shops on the main road. I found the little wooden box in the games picture above, which houses a chess set. I also got this fun frame, which with a lick of white paint and a selection of my old Happy Families playing cards inside is pretty cool. It sits atop a ravishing old wooden ladder that Tim pulled out of a skip a few weeks ago, complete with splashes of paint and rust.
We also thought we had found a miracle in a pair of curtains from the Mind charity shop in East Dulwich, they were lovely; thick, simple, perfect width for our bare lounge windows... just 8 centimetres short.
Oh dear!

First second-hand fruits of the summer

Summer arrived in London in a serious way last week, it was eye-ball wateringly hot, and as we gallivanted around Brighton (we popped down for a day trip to hear about my friend's recent home birth) I felt just that bit more happy with the world.

I was also pretty happy that, although Tim and I have been trying our hardest not to buy stuff till we get in to our house (on that note our estate agents are setting up a meeting between us and the belligerent vendor next week) we have been very un-self controlled and have therefore managed to stash up some sweet summer goods over the last couple of weeks.

These bits and bobs, collected from street corners, car boots and charity shops have already seen air time, with starring roles in our Regent Park picnics.

Here is the essential summer collection:

• Tea cups and china saucers: 10p- 70p from the Ashford carboot (we happened to be camping close by the weekend before last. It was still freezing then but made the camp fires more fun)
• Beautiful strawberry and cherry table cloth: £3:99 from the Dalston Oxfam Shop - well worth a visit if you live within 20 miles!
• Cream metal picnic hamper: Free from outside a shop having been part of their window display- with many thanks to these high street capitalists with their wasteful ways.
• Mint green rusty colander: Key item here for rinsing the caterpillars off those just - scrumped blackberries. 5op from one of the many glorious charity shops on Old Kent Road
• Tea flask: £1:99 also from Old Kent Road charity shops, London's best kept secret, it is totally second hand heaven.

So here's to a cracking summer- hope yours is filled with much tea and cake, scrumping and picnicking.

Car boot sales rock my world

Seriously, I just can't get enough. until about 3 months ago I thought Charity Shops were heaven, but they have been massively usurped in favour of the archaic (I mean really, boot sales and the house moving process are the only two things to remain completely untouched by the internet revolution) wander- around -a -muddy -field -amongst- a- zillion -Mr Bean- VHS's- Sunday morning experience.

Tea cups for 10p, ammo boxes for two quid (I bought three, not realising their violent original purpose, eek... will plant flowers for peace in them maybe) and a A Dad's Guide to Having a Baby book for 25p. Brilliant. We also nabbed a bread maker this Sunday and have been munching hearty home backed slices non stop since. It is bargains galore; grannies who have never heard of shabby chic and young men who don't realise the beauty that rust and flaky paints adds to an item! Ha!

Of course, the other tantalising thing is that they are so rare and hard to find, precious jewels of Kentish surburbia. This also means that Charity Shops won't miss my custom too much as I need a daily browsing fix that Car Boots will never satisfy. Win Win for everyone.

Get yourself a local paper and look in the Classifieds section ASAP, there is some 1920's crockery out there for 70p with your name on it!