Eclectic 'Trucs'

Well there's not much going on in the brocante calender in France right now and to be honest even if there was it's been so cold lately that I honestly don't think I could manage to keep a smile on my face all day (a scary grimace would probably be all I could muster) .

I decided therefore to visit a local flea market last weekend as a punter (well to be honest I had originally intended to have a stall at but with one thing and another I left it too late to book and didn't get a pitch). Fortunately this regrettable oversight on my part did make snuggling up in bed under a lovely warm duvet all the more pleasurable, especially coupled with the delicious thought that at that very moment we could be outside bickering with each other in the dark in the struggle to scrape ice off the windscreen of the van.

Having finally persuaded ourselves to tumble out of bed and enjoy a leisurely (and somewhat smug) breakfast we moseyed down to the brocante to do a bit of buying, determined to make the best out of what proved to be a bit of a lost opportunity (the market turned out to be a really good one... note to myself for next year... lazy lazy lazy... but so warm and snugly!).  

I have to say that I genuinely felt for the dealers (the ones who had managed to get their crap together and reserve a place!) as I watched them stamp their feet to keep out the cold and cup their frozen hands over mugs of steaming hot coffee.  It was then that I realised that I obviously don't have that degree of dedication and would have to wait to emerge, like a butterfly from a chrysalis (or a sleepy old tortoise from hibernation... take your pick!) sometime in the spring.

With all this in mind I have taken the uncharacteristic decision to be proactive, in a warm and comfortable kind of way of course, and to fill the long winter months grappling with my new 'Etsy' shop on the Internet (soon to be opened when I manage to get around to it... probably sometime after the Christmas rush!)   

Anyway with this new venture in mind here are some of the 'trucs' of a more eclectic/quirky nature that I picked up last week:-

 'Amuse Gueules' aperitif tray from the Belle Epoque period

Charming shabby chic biscuit tin from Montpellier 

French vintage bellows camera from the 1940s

Delightful antique biscuit/butter mould depicting Saint Basil

If my super little 'trucs' fail to charm others as much as they have charmed me and remain unsold over the winter do not fear!  They will still be loved and have already found their respective places in the ever decreasing nooks and crannies of my home while they wait (a bit like myself) to be unleashed back into the real (and considerably warmer) world of antique dealing next year.