Car Boot Sale II - a kiss and a paste pot

A KISS AND A PASTE POT

raw metal-a gift from a gentleman's treasure trove

There is something poignant, melancholy, fascinating and tragic about a car boot sale. It is a form of biography, or indeed obituary. Along with the sellers clearing out the possessions which have come to possess their saturday mornings are the folks who deal in house clearance, disposing with the estate of those who have recently passed away. Hence the boxes of faded sepia family photos, baby's first shoes, Granny's prized tea-set and carefully hoarded tat. The stories of the dead seem to speak louder that those of the still living, and it is as if every floor-cast teapot grasped on bended knee, being rubbed will induce a genie type promise of being the next keeper of its secrets, and with it the next link in the heady beat of history. Or, more morbidly, one becomes the holder of someone else's 'poor Yorick' the clay form fighting the earth from whence it came, full of the spirit and memory of its previous owner.

corals from the estate of a polish artist and her billionaire russian husband

I'm enjoying making my own memories and stories at the car boot sale itself. Today something different happened. At the far corner of the field is a man who sells all manner of old bottles, pots, ceramics, clay pipes-the type of things you'd find in a Victorian rubbish tip. I expect most of it has actually been dug up or mudlarked, but who knows! I was rummaging in one plastic box, dusty hot in the late morning sun, all dirt and tangled jewellery, picking out a few broken chains. The owner asked if I'd found any gold yet, and I placed some gleaming chains in his hand. I'm not sure why I did this, usually I'd joke along then go and sell the gold-that is the job of a dealer, after all. This time I said 'yes', and the gentleman seemed as surprised by my honesty as I was. Turned out his sight was very bad, so he couldn't see what he was selling. He'd have run straight off to sell it all to the man who buys gold at the other side of the field and come back to split the takings with me, but it turned out he was disabled and couldn't walk that far, so I offered to go instead. Remarking to him that I'd not have been honest were it not for feeling rich since knowing Jesus, it occurred to me that at that moment I was far far richer than I'd have been had I done the done thing of keeping quiet and selling the gold for scrap. I cannot tell you how overjoyed the gentleman was, probably more due to unexpected candor than some extra cash- I was showered with hugs and a kiss and a paste pot and an oddly shaped lump of shining metal from his treasure trove, not to mention half of the gold money..... I think that simple, chipped, humble little paste pot will become more of a treasure to me than anything else I've found today; it keeps within it the memory of a wonderful moment shared with a dear old man safe forever.

the greatest treasure of all- a simple white paste pot

This field- a racecourse- is aptly named as the 'knavesmire'-not just for the fool who bets his savings on a horse, but the punter who gambles on making a profit from a purchase. Many times I've won, many times I've lost. I've even left spoils of battle in the field. Somewhere there is a single diamante clip earring, as big as a penny, as bright as a headlight. Perhaps its healthy to leave a gleaning, the remnant of a post harvest gloating session, as I'm lying in the long grass and basking in the midday sun, wondering how on earth I'm going to get everything home, and already imagining how I'm going to display or sell it. The thing about trying to buy the past, or attempting to secure your future from the oversight, ignorance or generosity of a vendor; the thing about setting your wit and wisdom against every other dealer there, is that it does not leave you unchanged. Or rather it brings out, in one single clear note, the hidden and undergirding treasures of ones heart-'for where your treasure is,there will your heart also be'[matthew 6:21].

More often than not, it shows me my covetousness; today it also showed me how gracious God has been to me...

'freely you have received; freely give' matthew 10:8