I have had rather a good weekend, I must say. Friday I got up at 4 am to book my Eurostar ticket for going to La
Bourboule. The tickets went on sale that
day, and I wanted to make sure to get a cheap one – I got the last one! Either there was only one cheap one (even
that wasn’t supercheap, just sort of cheapish) or everyone else had gotten up
even earlier. But Friday evening was a
pip, because Averil Cameron gave a talk on Byzantine History (Constantine
Saturday morning I had to get up early again, because there
was a degree day and I had to help out. There
were so many people that some of us staff couldn’t get lunch, but again luck favoured
me. While patrolling the grounds to make
sure that no one was still lingering outside Hall and missing their lunch, I
came across a lone woman reading a book – she hadn’t managed to get a place and
was waiting for her relatives to finish lunch in Hall before going to the Sheldonian
Theatre for the degree ceremony. So I
swept her off to the nearest restaurant for a quick lunch, and we had a simply
splendid time. Totally fascinating lady,
I hope she will come again so we can have a good chinwag. That’s the great thing about working in Oxford
This morning I also had to get up early – you’ll be tired of
hearing this, but not as tired as me doing it!
I went with my good friend A to conduct a table top sale. It is sort of like a jumble sale. People rent tables for a small fee and try to
sell all the stuff they no longer need to unsuspecting passers by. Usually these sales are in village or church halls,
and such was the case with this one. Generally
I just give whatever I no longer need to a charity shop, but since A had booked
a table and invited me to come along I thought, Why Not?
I did rather well! As
a matter of fact, I am the only one who did rather well. This was the first sale ever held in this venue,
and the customers were few and far between.
The sellers were ill pleased, and packed up an hour early. One lady told me she only sold one item, for
25 pennies, and the others did not manage to do much better. Most got less than £5, I think.
I wish I could report that I am ashamed to have walked away from
the sale with £40, but sadly I am not ashamed at all!!! I am proud, gloatingly so, and all the muscles
in my face hurt from stopping myself grinning like the Cheshire Cat. I did better than all the other sellers put together,
and am probably well hated now. But I
don’t care, I am insanely proud and absurdly pleased. I had no idea I had such a wealth of moral turpitude
to draw upon, I will probably become an investment banker now, just as soon as I
have sold everything I can bear to part with from my house. A is already making plans for the next sale, apparently
there is a car boot sale coming up … I’ll
be there!!!!!!!!!
This afternoon I took a little walk, just to put some perspective back into my life, and took photos of the little wild flower meadow that grows just around the corner from my house. A few years ago there was just nasty dry grass, but someone has taken the area under their wing and just look at the result – gorgeous luscious green. ‘Course, I am more into greenbacks now …. But still.
