An American in Britain

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I’ve been to some rummage sales in the US.  I’ve attended and even held my own garage sales.  However, I had never been to a Jumble Sale in the UK.  That is, until now.  What an experience!  I’ve been to several now and I certainly find them much more amusing than any rummage or garage sale.  That’s not to say that I haven’t found wonderful items at both rummage and garage sales.  It’s just that the entire atmosphere was different to what I’ve been used to.

My first experience was walking into a bustling, noisy, crowded room, buzzing with activity.  You’d think you were at some overcrowded market and the goods were outstanding.  But it’s not.  It’s a bunch of old junk people have donated to the organizers of the Jumble – whether it’s a local charity, church, or community group.  But amongst the old junk you might find a treasure, hence, the rush to get at the goods first.  You practically have to elbow your way in to look at what’s on the table.  Everything’s just piled up high, especially the clothes.  Almost nothing is priced up.  Or, I should say, almost nothing is even priced.  You can either make an offer or ask how much and someone will make up a price on the spot (your  price will even differ depending on who you ask).  You can choose to bargain with the price, but given how low most of the prices are, it seems a very guilty pleasure to try to get it for even lower.

Because we had left most of our household stuff in the States, we had to replenish here.  The Jumbles really helped us out financially.  At one Jumble, we almost furnished everything in the kitchen for 4 GBP.  We didn’t run across any valuable antiques but we found some good quality items that only needed a little cleaning.  You have to be able to sort through junk and enjoy it in order to appreciate these Jumbles.  Unfortunately, from what I hear from the natives, Jumbles are starting to go by the wayside.  That would be quite a shame.