“I’m going to buy buns for tea,” said Peter. “I thought you were all so poor,” said the Station Master. “So we are,” said Peter, confidentially, “but we always have three pennyworth of halfpennies for tea whenever Mother sells a story or a poem or anything.”
The Railway Children by E. Nesbit
Last weekend we took our first road trip of the year – to visit my family in Kingston-upon-Hull (our 13-year-old-niece informed us that only a ‘southerner’ would call Hull, Kingston-upon-Hull – locals call it ‘ull.)
It was wonderful to see our nieces who have all grown up and changed considerably since we saw them last at Christmas. Even the littlest one has progressed from terror to just tenacious. And I’m pleased to report that my little northern family has flourished over the COVID lockdown. For all sorts of reasons it’s been good for them as a family and of course it’s been a long hot summer for the girls, and conducive to good veggie-growing on their allotment.
All these things warm this aunty’s heart.
Of course, a visit to Hull in the summer is not complete without a trip to a boot sale.
Hubby and I gave each niece £5 to spend, then wondered around peacefully (apart from a very muddy and disgusting toilet experience). The eldest niece spent her whole £5 plus extra pocket money on DVDs (I may have created a monster). The 9-year-old found a virtually-new pair of Converse Allstars for just £1. Tenacious scored some toys and the 13-year-old saved her fiver for another day.
Me, I made a study of useless objects – taking pictures, but not purchasing.
It fascinates me to think that just about anything can be sold at a boot sale and presumably there are buyers out there looking for just that very thing!
SMALL PRINT:
P.s. I haven’t rated them by uselessness, but my personal favourite is the tiny porcelain heads. What about you?
P.p.s. We had a heatwave in London. Hull was a wonderful reprieve. Today is the first day in as long as I can remember, that it has rained the whole day, gentle but steady. I’ve had my happy face on all day – 13mm of sweet heavenly rain for the allotment.
P.p.p.s. I bought a rain gauge at the start of the heatwave – only a South African (granddaughter of a farmer) would do that in England!
P.p.p.p.s. The have been a few local lockdowns in the north lately with cases of COVID-19 going up in pockets. E.g. In Bolton. The reason, it appears, is that young people are not social distancing. Many infections are in the 13-20 age range. The illness is not serious in these young people, but can be serious for their elders. On BBC Radio 4 news on our drive up to Hull, experts were debating the merits of a new advertising campaign entitled “Don’t kill granny”. Eek – reality check for those youngsters!
Nyamazela 