Old habits and hippy happiness in the new year

One thing I love about trips to places I rarely go is the chance to stumble on undiscovered op shops. So it pains me beyond logic when those trips happen to fall on weekends or public holidays when the op shops are shut. Such a waste of a great op-shop-ortunity! Fortunately, my agony during my New Year’s trip to Sorrento was lessened by the discovery of a MARKET in Rosebud on the way home on Sunday (imagine that the word MARKET is in flashing neon lights with sparkly things around it to convey my excitement).

I’m somewhat renowned among my friends for my love of markets and bazaars, as during a trip to Turkey a few years ago our little group of girls had to be escorted out of Istanbul’s Grand Bazaar due to my browsing having extended past closing time. The bazaar being the labyrinth that it is, if the helpful shop assistants had not helped us find the exit, we may still be wandering around in there now. Hmm, not such an unhappy thought. But back to what I was saying – I arrived at the Rosebud Lion’s Club market with friends, but once they realised how engrossed I can get at the prospect of amazing bargains, they decided to leave me to my own devices. Sensible friends, seeing as I then spent the next HOUR at the haberdashery stall pictured above, happily rummaging through the ribbons. The haberdashery haul is for a future project which I might mention at a later date, but I of course managed to find a few other bits and pieces…

Woman’s Weekly magazines from the 1970s, $1 each, a leather bag for $3 and cheap jewellery from the same stall, which the lady put in a cute little navy silk pouch for me, plus a 70s batik Tshirt which is very similar to this one and makes me feel all groovy, man (thank you, Photo Booth, for turning me into an honorary hippy).

The jewellery lady also sold me this ring which is basically a strip of metal with a diamondy-ball thing stuck to it.

For $2, I’m assuming it’s not actually a diamond, but stranger things have happened. In fact, today when I was checking the black leather bag that the lady sold me I found something in the pocket… yes, it was a diamond! What a coincidence when we were just talking about them!

No, just kidding, it was a charm from a temple in Japan, with a Buddha inside it. It’s an amulet to ensure traffic safety (that’s what the characters in gold say!). How strange that it made its way to someone who actually knows what it is – I doubt that many other people would have had much idea! I never bought one of these while I was living in Japan but I suppose I should put it in my car to keep me safe when I’m hooning around, as I am of course wont to do. How about you, have you managed to find any second hand goodies yet so early in the year? If you want to check out the market where I found all these things, it’s on every first Sunday of the month, but just to keep us on our toes, the next one is a twilight market from 3pm (I think!) on January 21st, which is a Friday. If I still have not found a job, I may just happen to find myself on the road to Rosebud….