Friday 22 April 2011

Coffeegate

I went to two of my local charity shops yesterday in the hope of finding goodies before the big Easter Getaway but my attempts of finding a bargain in the first shop were scuppered by what will forever be known as 'Coffeegate'. 

The shop was fairly busy, two fellow mums with buggies along with myself trying to steer our way down the aisle without having that rogue coat-hanger or cuddly animal jamming in the front wheels of the pushchair leading to a pit-stop to remove the offending item.  All was going good and I was nearing the beloved bric-a-brac shelves when we were all asked to "hold on a minute please".  Cue two flustered old ladies rushing about panicked about "the spillage on the floor".  "I don't know what it is" exclaimed old lady 1 "where has it come from? I don't know WHAT IT IS!!"  She was looked like she was going to spontaneously combust at any moment.  "Get a towel" cried old lady 2, "what towel?" said old lady 1, "Get one out of the dog bedding basket, we have run out of kitchen roll and Roy forgot to get some when he went for the cakes" ordered old lady 2.  So we then had the frantic rummage through the dog bedding box, each item was pulled out and deemed as being too good to use to mop up the spillage. The mum in front of me tried to make a break for it with her buggy  but was stopped by old lady 1 due to "health and safety love".  So we were all stranded in the aisle awaiting a resolution to the drama.

It took them a good 7 or 8 minutes to find a suitable towel which looked dodgy enough to use on the floor.  I thought hooray we are finally going to be able to get a  move on but oh no, the two oldies then decided that before mopping it up then needed to identify what the liquid is.  Cola and urine were ruled out early on in the discussion due to no bubbles and no smell.  It was definitely a brown colour according to old lady 1 so they wracked their brains as to what the offending fluid was.  Well I was losing my will to live at this point and little man was getting fed up in his buggy and decided to have a scream.   Old lady 1 then realised what it was "That lovely man who dropped off the bin bags of clothes was carrying a cup of coffee, he must have spilt some on the way out, what a cheek!".  So the coffee was finally removed from the floor, me and mum in front managed to make a run for the door before anything else could happen.  So therefore nothing was bought from said shop!


I did however pop briefly into the other charity shop and bagged this:

Tuffy Road Safety game - pure retro cheese - love it espeically for £1 :o)  While on the game front I also picked up this:

Vintage Canasta £1

So coffee drinkers please consider your fellow shoppers should you visit a chairty shop with a full cup *wink*

Happy Easter all.

Scarlett x

19 comments:

  1. Oh goodness help us all when we get to 'that age'. My mum is heading for it, despite always seeming super-alert and sprightly 'til now. Panic over minor incidents,assuming the whole world is rude, repeating oneself. Did you watch the Mary Portas 'Queen of Charity Shops' series? The elderly ladies on there used to make me laugh.

    ReplyDelete
  2. Haha this story was hilarious! Especially the part when trying to guess what the liquid was. I love real life stories like this so thanks for sharing! x

    ReplyDelete
  3. Oh god.. If it were me I would have just carried on perusing the shelves! How big was the puddle of coffee? Surely it couldn't have been that big a spillage to stop people from shopping! Dithering old women! How awkward! Quite a funny story though! You do witness some crazy things on your shopping trips XD

    Love the Tufty Squirrel game.. so cute! xxx

    ReplyDelete
  4. So glad I dont drink coffee will never be blamed from spilling it ha ha Glad you found something I am now on a opshop diet they are all closed till next Thursday yikes
    Ps I think you should be writing a journal with all these funny stories inside

    ReplyDelete
  5. there was probably some good treasure to be had too...some people have no consideration! Ha-ha!
    I do love both of your vintage games though Scarlett especially the Tufty one.
    Your garden will look lovely wearing its union jack bunting...tell me is everyone in old blighty excited about the royal wedding? I'd love to know, and I hope you are going to do a royal weddingish post.

    ReplyDelete
  6. I love reading your charity shop and boot sale anecdotes - long may they continue!

    I heart that Tufty game by the way - educational and fun!

    ReplyDelete
  7. Come sono belle queste cose di una volta!Buona Pasqua a te e alla tua famiglia,Rosetta

    ReplyDelete
  8. Am loving the Tufty game - I was a member of the Tufty club - still have my badge & book somewhere!!

    ReplyDelete
  9. The trials and tribulations of charity shops - there are certainly some characters to be found in them!
    Liz

    ReplyDelete
  10. Ahhh Tufty!! I'm on the hunt for Tufty goodies at the moment for the guys at work who were talking about it the other week so it's my mission to find something at the boot sales this weekend!

    Victoria xx

    ReplyDelete
  11. Scarlett this has me laughing out loud. I can just see the discussion by the little old ladies and not letting anyone move! Too funny! I do love the games you found at the other shop. :)

    Linda

    ReplyDelete
  12. Thanks for the funny story and also Happy Easter!

    ReplyDelete
  13. I bet it was the most dramatic thing to happen in that shop for ages. I almost wish it had been piss though.

    I misread the sentence 'whilst on the game front' as 'whilst on the game'!

    Love the Tufty game though, old style packaging is the best. x

    ReplyDelete
  14. Hahaayy,Those little old ladies are always drama.
    they always stare at me while I am looking at stuff,like if I was gonna steal anything at those prices. I love your charity/boot sale drama, so funny.
    canasta game is lovely.
    Happy Easter!

    ReplyDelete
  15. Scarlett I LOVE your "overheard" stories! How large was said spillage? Surely not so much as to devour all areas of the shop? How silly! Again I can't help but notice how kindly it was handled by all of you in the shop. I'm pretty sure here people would't pause for a second. They'd just step over the spill and go about their business. Vanna

    ReplyDelete
  16. ha ha ha i am sorry for laughing but O god what a a pain ;-) I remember Tufty what a little gem of a find, see you were meant to find that instead ;-)) Have a lovely weekend, dee x

    ReplyDelete
  17. wuahahahahaha....dramatic scene in first charity shop it seems!! gosh i feel like watching a tv each time i read i imagine the old lady 1 and old lady 2 did what they did!!! but i love what you found on the 2nd charity shops! glad that you didnt come home empty handed afterall! love the vintage game and card! Have a Happy Easter, Scarlett! xx Susan

    ReplyDelete
  18. Hi Scarlett thanks for dropping by kitty n' kitsch! Loving this story, and really really want to play tufty's road safety game! x

    ReplyDelete
  19. Poor old dears, if they hadn't done that I expect some unscrupulous scumbag would have faked a fall and sued the charity for thousands of quid.
    Love your Tufty game, I was in the Tufty Club when I was a toddler.
    Happy Easter and belated wishes for your anniversary, too. xxx

    ReplyDelete

Please leave your comment after the beep....
beeeeeeeeeeep!