a(nother) thrifty tale

I was struck by a moment of panic recently whilst driving down "the high street" (as our main street shall hereby be known thanks to my dear friend helen), when I noticed from the corner of my eye that the doors to my local vinnies were not open at a time of day when they most definitely should have been. In fact, the shop was quite empty, devoid of all its mysterious contents, and it

had quite the air of abandonment about it. Oh no, I thought to myself, could it be gone? Was the competition just too fierce (there are three other op shops in this town, which should give you some idea of the amount of crap that people have to offload around here). Upon closer inspection, I realised there was a little hand written sign taped to the door ... reno's in progress, back in three weeks. Phew. But, seriously, three weeks? What the heck were they going to do, put in turnstiles and door security?

So, for three weeks we waited patiently. It wasn't easy, but luckily, like I said, there are other places that one can go to in these parts. And then, as I was leaving the supermarket the other day, I noticed the magic doors were once again open and off we went, jasper and I, to see what we could find. Little did we know, but it was actually the grand re-opening day, and there was a bit of a frenzied atmosphere about the place. You see, the people were keen to see the fresh white paint, the new glass shelves in the windows, and the new racks full of clothes swapped from other vinnies. I wonder what happened to all of our tired old stuff...maybe it's in taree or some other far off destination.

So, we wandered, jasper and I. We wondered past all the shiny new stuff, thinking maybe there was a nice little vintage coat or even a dress just perfect for me waiting there. Wishful thinking. Poor jasper, I could see the disappointment on his face. We left the linen till last, didn't want to rush things.
just as we were about to leave, I cast one last look over the shelves. There were the usual suspects. The faded cotton kmart sheets so common at this time of year, having been cast aside in favour of their fluffy flanelette cousins. But there, on the bottom shelf, sat three baskets full of undisturbed linen, just waiting to be rummaged. That red and green sweet thing found it's way into my hands first, then the hand embroidered butterfly number which will be just the thing for my next garden party, and then, oh joy, three juicy yards of grey and yellow vintagey rayon. I see a new dress in my future after all.
And, as if that wasn't enough, a perfectly lovely tea cosy in just the right colours for keeping my tea warm on these chilly winter mornings.

Needless to say, we came home from our little adventure feeling quite pleased with ourselves, had a "coffee tea" (as jasper likes to call it), and remarked to one another how good life really is, especially with an op shop within walking distance of one's home.