I know I said I wanted some peace and quiet ...
... but the universe seems to take me rather too literally at times. Two cancellations and one no-show turned what should have been a busy (and profitable) weekend into one where we had just one room rented out each night.
Making a virtue out of necessity we decided to get out and about a bit. The biggest brocante in Burgundy was scheduled to take place on Sunday at Louhans. So on Sunday morning, bright but not very early, we joined our Dutch friends for a day out.
Brocantes are the French equivalent of the car boot sale and the antiques fair all rolled into one. They take place everywhere over the summer and are tremendous fun. This one had over four hundred stalls piled high with everything from garden implements to tacky religious knick-knacks of the kind my grandmother and aunts used to bring me back from Lourdes. The stallholders themselves are a mixed bag, too. There are the obvious professionals with a few choice pieces in very good nick carefully displayed. There are the families on a day out trying to flog the contents of granny's attic. Then there are the obvious crooks trying to sell you cheap perfume, fire damaged goods or dodgy DVDs.
We wandered around for an hour or so before heading for the refreshment tent to try and get some lunch. Hubby and I ended up with chips, as usual, as they're virtually the only things guaranteed not to turn up with bacon bits on them. Then off we set for a bit more wandering, marvelling along the way at the stuff that some people actually hope you will pay them money for. The clear winner had to be the ricketty chair with half its stuffing exploding out of every seam and one leg missing.
Our friends, after some prolonged haggling with the stallholder, bought a couple of nice antique chairs, and their kids spent a week's pocket money at the toy stall. Hubby tried, and failed, to buy a flying pig - in actual fact a rather nice cast iron money box in the shape of a pig with wings - but balked at 35 euros and the stallholder wouldn't budge on the price. I added to my collection of Asterix books.
It was a small haul as these things go but we all came away satisfied. The weather cooperated and delivered us a nice bright sunny day. I found myself thinking that the whole thing hadn't turned out too badly after all.
To round the weekend off I decided to sign up for my first challenge. I'm now the proud owner of prompt No 106 at the
omniocular September challenge. All I have to do now is figure out what to do with it.
MM