How to Get Out of Savers in Five Minutes Flat

I’m a fairly honest sort of a lady, so I’ll tell you straight up that the title is a lie – there’s no way known that yours truly is getting out of savers in five minutes. or ten. or…you get the idea. I’m a hopeless case. But here are my best strategies for getting in and out of a huge op shop/second hand emporium as quick as you can.

It will be especially useful if, like me, you can’t go past an op shop, even if you’re running late/your parking meter has run out/you have a house bursting with crap. Here we go:

More Than You Probably Want to Know About Head Vases

If you don’t know what a head vase is, don’t worry – it’s pretty self explanatory. They’re small vases (3 -8 inches high, depending on how deluxe the model is) in the shape of a head. The head in question usually belongs to a young glamorous woman.

And aside from general retro value – these babies were mostly produced in the 50s and 60s – there’s something wonderfully lobotomy/zombie like about the whole ‘hot babe dressed to the nines who is apparently missing a brain but never mind we’ll jam some violets in there’  vibe of the head vase phenomenon.

Stakeout: Williamstown Antique Fair, 18-20 July 2008

I have a soft spot for this fair – partially because it’s in my hood (with da pimpz and da honeyzz etc etc) and partially because it was at this fair, once upon a time, that my interest in all things old and ridiculous passed from ‘moderate’ to ‘out of control’.

That said, this fair was pretty much what you’d expect if you’re a regular at these things. Same dealers, same grumbles (a tip for antiques fairs – go late in the day to hear whether the vendors are grumbling at each other over the amount of sales they’ve had. About an hour before closing time it’s like they forget there’s other people around and start pissing and moaning about how crowds are down due to the football &c. It’s what i call ‘the witching hour’. And it’s a great time to haggle).

Stakeout: Karangahape Road, Auckland

Oh lordy, how i have missed melbourne. i’ve missed the reliably good coffee. i’ve missed the existence of a public transport system. i’ve missed living in something marginally larger than a doll house. i’ve missed talking to people with manners (so much rudeness in new zealand!) i’ve missed living in a city whose streets aren’t on a ridiculously steep hill. the list goes on.

But the first order of business, today, is to wrap up my hunter-gathering in the Isle of Birds (new zealand has no animals, so they’ve sort of turned this into a badge of pride and the isle-of-birds thing is plastered around the place. don’t get me wrong, i love birds. nz had awesome parrots. but where was i?)

Stakeout: Paper Bag Princess, Auckland

Stop the presses. I think I’ve found an op shop that’s breaking the law. And not in an awesome rebel-grandma-undercutting-prices way. More in a ‘SPYING ON CUSTOMERS IN THE NUDE’ kind of way.

Happiness is Next to Vintagey Detectiveness

Something really delightful happened last week – I was awarded a ‘Tree of Happiness’ by the lurvely livingisdetail from One Little Detail. This entails three things:

1. I graciously accept the award, thanking my many supporters and possibly jesus in an overlong and cheesy speech which I later regret (I am most likely wearing a hideous bubblegum pink ballgown at this time).

2. I list six things that make me happy on this here blog (so no vintagey love today…well, maybe a little bit)

3. I pass the love on to six other blogettes.

Op Shopping in Devonport, New Zealand

I know I keep doing this, but there’s a ferry woot-wooting for me just outside this lovely wharf-side internet caf and i have to make a break for it (this one doesn’t smell like wee. i inadvertently injured the national pride of certain new zealanders by writing that i was in an internet caf that smelled of wee last time, so i’m noting for the record that this one smells vaguely of carpet and that’s ALL).

OK there is one really good n’ cheap op in this suburb on Auckland’s North Shore.