What A Weekend!

Saturday's Yard Sale went OK. I got rid of about 40% of my stuff, and after allowing for cost of hand sanistiser, and a small gift to church funds, I was left with around £40 [we celebrated with an M&S Chinese meal-in-a-box] 

I think around 35-40 people stopped by between 9 and 4, we chatted, and I ended up giving away stuff or charging rock bottom prices.

It was all about clearing the decks, not boosting the bank account. I had a Freebies Area by the pavement, and much of that went. I still don't understand why!

One lady picked up the big sweet jar full of corks, and said "Are these FREE?" I explained I had planned to use them for a Kids Club craft this summer, but we'd not run the club due to covid19. She said could she have them? I pointed out the other two containers [around 300 corks in all] and asked what she planned to do with them.

"I play Real Tennis, and all the balls have to be handmade - the centre core is a piece of cork" [you can read about this here] She explained that she played at Canford School - where there has been a Real Tennis Court for almost 500 years!  That was quite exciting, to think my corks would genuinely be recycled into something useful.

Someone else arrived - having been to the church car park thinking the sale was still happening there. She then rang her sister - who bought up loads of my surplus Pyrex. They left, then her parents arrived, having been for their flu jab. * of my customers were on their way back from flu jabs! [We have ours next Saturday]

"You'll never get rid of that chair - who is going to want one dining chair on its own" said Bob. I pointed out that we did, back in 2012. I put a "FREE" sign on it, and a chap from down the road said it was just what he needed for his bedroom. He carried it away very cheerfully - along with a huge box of disposable cutlery, and £7 worth of other goods. I'd brought the chair back from the spare bedroom at Cornerstones [but left the beautiful patchwork cushion behind - that is not going!]

"Oh I know who you are!" exclaimed one shopper "You're the lady who tells the brilliant stories in the little tent, every summer. You remember, dear, they were all so exciting" [teenage daughter looks totally baffled by this] I felt encouraged that my annual contribution to the Fete on the Field had been appreciated.

Dorian Gray [the picture from the attic] went, and so did my huge map of the Underground. All the cross stitch threads and surplus reels of machine cotton, the sewing kits and embroidery hoops [three ladies said they were busy making dreamcatchers]
But two perfectly good coffee makers, and a box of Dolce Gusto Pods remain. 

It was great fun, the weather held, and people behaved impeccably. We went to bed at 10, both exhausted and got up bright and early to do the Livestream. Bob wore his new shirt, and best suit [which has shrunk during lockdown] I wore a dress, heels and tights - and felt vaguely uncomfortable.

And when we got to church at 9.20, there was no internet!! After all that rehearsing, and rearranging, and hours of work. Nothing. Evie, one of the musicians, rang her husband Andy [a computer genius par excellence]. He and Bob worked out the problem - the router Had Just Died. So we put out an apology, saying we'd record the service to release later.

I kept wriggling, and tugging the neckline of my dress. Things were not right. We went home - and I discovered I'd put it on back to front [in my defence, it is a plain over-the-head shift, no zips or buttons] 

So the weekend had highs and lows, good bits, bad bits and laugh-out-loud stupid bits. But I must not complain - some people have had much worse to put up with [dear Bless, over in the USA had a minor earthquake to contend with]

Thank you to everybody who clicked the subscribe button on the UCF church site, that has really helped boost our numbers - even if the other technology let us down.