Zara, Nafnaf, M&S, Spiderman, a three-toed sloth and John Cleese - I found all this and more hiding in the Fara Charity Shop. Okay, maybe John wasn't there and neither was the sloth, but Spiderman was. He was there on the pages of some 1980's French editions of Spiderman comics. How cool?!?
I did see a few designer names stuck in among those chain store labels, but nothing as exciting as a Toblerone bar the size of Big Ben. (Wouldn't that be amazing?) Like most charity shops, this is a good place to pick up basics, but there isn't much in the way of cool vintage to be found among the rails (or under the carpets. I checked there too. I also whacked out my jackhammer and checked underneath the store's front sidewalk. Darn it, nothing there either; and to think that's usually where people hide stuff!).
The guy behind the counter was nice. He made a comment to me about the bag I was looking at. Then he heard my accented response and launched into a ten minute long lecture about the future of American politics. I was ready to leave and go elsewhere after two of those minutes, but he just kept yada yada yada-ing along. Mind you, he had the best of intents and was probably just bored, but I quickly became bored too and wanted to head out. At long last, the light of a pause shone through the clouds of the conversation and I pardoned myself and left.
Whew. I might go back, but I'm certainly going to have to change my accents and leave the politics in my purse. read more