The High Street was rammed, with the market in full swing. And I have to admit that the happy cries of 'Any bowl (of brussels sprouts) you bloody well fancy!' briefly drew my attention. However, not wishing to appear cheapskate by presenting my Aunt Mavis with a bag of vegetables or a disposable lighter for Christmas, I changed tack and popped into one of our twelve card shops. There I met with moderate success, finding a couple of reasonably tasteful Christmas cards, just along from the shelves sporting birthday greetings such as 'Happy 30th Grandma' and 'For The Best Stepmother's Boyfriend In The World'.
Bypassing the huge bones labelled 'Postman's Legs' (the perfect present for the rabid hound in your life) outside the pet shop, I popped into the seasonal 'Polar Village'. Here I felt slightly hoodwinked by the advertising, which had promised an ice skating rink. Hmmm. No ice, just that plastic stuff with a few poor souls wondering why their skates wouldn't budge. And not so much a rink as a patio.
So I ended up getting most of my pressies at our local biblio-bloke Michael Child's splendid secondhand bookshop on trendy King Street. A cup of tea and a browse. Now that's my idea of civilised shopping!
NB: photograph for illustrative purposes only
3 comments:
I did visit the so-called Polar Village but only glanced in so missed the plastic ice and the reindeer who apparently turned up later! I've decided not to buy Christmas presents this year ( a very liberating experience too) so my brief visit to Albion House where most of the Eastcliff bazaar had retreated to because of the cold winds was really just to say hello. But I did take pity on the poor guys valiantly manning the bandstand in freezing temperatures and share a beaker full of mulled wine with them. By the way in case you're wondering - I'm not mean but I'm giving money to two local charities instead.
Being a hardcore community mingler myself, I shuffled along to the bandstand/Albion House bizzarre too.
Mulled wine, lovely! Bizzarre stalls, terrific! Brass band playing Silent Night, accompanied by two small dogs trying to kill eachother in the noisiest way possible, wasn't so sure about that!
I’ve been pretty tied up with the Christmas rush in the bookshop so have missed the local events and have been late commenting on the blogs. Those of you in millionaires row will be pleased to know that Richard left a few interesting local collectables in stock including the sought after expanded 1736 edition of Lewis’s Isle of Tenet, a first edition 1817 of Moses’s Ramsgate views has come in since Richard nearly cleared me out of antiquaria I am also expecting a consignment of rare local items back from restoration at the bookbinders on Friday afternoon, just in time for stocking fillers.
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