Day 109: Car boot

I must be one of the very few people who ends up paying 50% MORE than the original asking price at a car boot sale.

But that's what happened on Sunday. I wasn't buying Action Men, by the way, I was buying another set of Russian President dolls (but I've already blogged a picture of these, so don't want to repeat myself), so here's a picture I took of other things on sale at the car boot.

So this is how it happened. I saw a miniature version of the Russian President dolls at one of the stalls. I have a slight penchant for them and you don't see quality ones on sale very often, especially not in the UK. I asked the seller how much they were and he said £2. I faffed around deciding whether to buy them, plucking up the courage to barter, getting the money together. Then returned to the stall. "How much are the Russian dolls again, £2?" I asked again and his mother digging in the boot of her car shouted out "No, No, The Russian dolls are £5".

Now. Ordinarily I would have kicked up a fuss given the original price of £2. But just then, she turned round and I realised the mother was non other than the legendary Mary Moriarty -prominent Leith figure and formiddable proprietress of equally legendary Port o' Leith bar. She can perform the superhuman feat of breaking up fights between drunk and beligerent sailors, whilst dressed in full evening gown and pearls, without upsetting a hair on her impeccably coiffured white head (this isn't a pub I've been too a lot, I should add, but I used to work round the corner from it so it was an occasional Friday evening post-work drink venue). Each visit was memorably hilarious, normally ending with someone dancing shirtless (not me) on the bar.

It's famous for sailors leaving memorabilia when they leave so I figured this is where the dolls came from. She agreed to sell them to me for £3 and for that, I didn't bother to barter. It's a little piece of history so £3 is a pretty paltry price to pay, no?