Rose Croft, Brentwood, Essex - 12th May 1972

Dear C &R, Thank you for the lovely photo of the elephant and words from the dark and mysterious continent. The big cuckoo clot on this page reminds me of two of my latest aquisitions, being a lovely carved wood cuckoo clock face that Bill found down the dump ( happy hunting ground!) - a few days later I found another more tawdry effort that had obviously been painted by a parrot who hated cuckoos! We play a lot with the bagatelle game I found there as well, it's getting to be an obsession! I'm feeling a bit sick at the moment - wev'e just come back from the park where we hoped to have a game of bowls, but the miserable old devil parkkeeper said it was too late at 7.30p.m.! So we played on the swings and slide in the children's playground. Ed spun me round so fast I haven't felt the same since! I've planted some carrots and radishes and lots of flowers in the garden and they seem to be growing nicely. Bill and Ed have their own vegetable patches. It's good to see the garden being productive raher than a jungle of grass and weed creepers! But I expect it's like the Wembley pitch compared to what you see in Africky?! Intermitent sun and showers here today, not very nice for Spring Fayres, fetes and carnivals. There's a donkey derby next week - I hope it's fine for that. I've just put up another shelf to put books that I keep on tripping over. Got some interesting one's yesterday at the jumble sale - Cobbett's "Rural Rides", "The Natural History Of Selbourne" by Rev. Gilber White M.A. and one of those Saturday Books full of unusual articles and pictures. Yes, I should like to hear the music. Do they do the "Wellington Boot Dance " there? Last night we went to see the morris men do their thing outside a pub in Moreton They weren't very good although the fiddle and drum was nice, and it's a pleasure to see such things kept alive, however amateurish. Inside the pub afterwards - everyone got drunk and sang jolly folk songs about Barley Mo's, Snails that drove nails, and other stange things! Hooray the sun is out! Best regards, Michael.

Jumbles

Went to two jumble sales yesterday which made a nice change especially as there are no boot sales this week. Jumble sales used to be a regular thing in other places I've lived but very rare in Cheshire for some reason. I suppose it's because we have so many charity shops and boots.
The first was at the Sally Army which I stumbled upon by chance. An old lady barred my way as I went through the door saying " Its not open yet!" What isn't? "The sale doesn't start until 10" I didnt know there was one! I went into the charity shop next to the hall where the jumble was being held. I could see that all the cream of junk had been skimmed off for the sale and all the dregs were left. I went away and came back at 10. It was packed by then and I managed to get three DVD's for 50p each- For Whom The Bell Tolls, Saving Private Ryan and Creature Comforts ( the Ardman Animations ).
The second jumble was over at a community hall in a small village about 5 miles away. This was also very busy - one could almost say "manic" (see Flip film above)! No chance of getting near any of the tables unless you went sideways. I managed to find a gap and purchased two old Pepys games - Bedlam ( how appropriate!) and What's That ( a game of guessing the names of objects photographed at strange angles ). Also a tiny key chain digital camera that I later discovered didnt work.