Tuesday 25 April 2017

Not Quite Mr Prendergast's Fantastic Find

If you haven't read my new novel yet (that's it over there on the right - cheap as chips), it tells the story of a man called Dave Prendergast who makes and amazing find on eBay. We often see people on Antiques Roadshow who have made great finds at car boot sales and in charity shops but rarely on eBay. But it is possible. If you read this blog from time to time you'll know that I sometimes try my hand at spotting "sleepers".

Here's one I found last week.



I paid my £23 and awaited the arrival of my fabulous Dudson cheese dish similar to this one that recently sold.

But luck was not one my side. The parcel arrived on Saturday. It was very very well packed. But it still didn't survive a trip across the country with Yodel.





So my hopes of a decent profit were, like the cheese dish, shattered. This was one of the reasons that I gave up dabbling on eBay a couple of years ago after the profit on a similar "bargain" failed to realise. I had another Yodel delivery today. The young man said "I've delivered here five times recently and this the first time you've been in.Did you get the parcel I left over the gate on Saturday." That gate is almost 6' high. He didn't open it but dropped it over the top. I told him it was smashed and he departed very sheepishly.

My last "bargain" cheese dish.

I'll keep trying for a while though as recent tax changes mean that the first £1,000 from trading like this is not taxable. Maybe one day, like Mr Pendergast, I'll make a fantastic find that comes good.



This was my best deal this month.

We're home from Scotland now after spending a week or so in the caravan with my Mum who is doing very well for 91. She looks great and dresses well but we wish that she would eat a bit more. The week we've been catching up on the garden and I've managed to scrub the entire decking on my hands and knees. The job took me hours but I'm happy with the result . While I was scrubbing Marion was even busier digging. When she got ready for bed she realised that she was missing a precious white gold and diamond earring.



Having a detectorist husband has its occasional benefits for Marion. I got up at seven on Sunday morning and thanks to the new detector I was back in bed again twenty minutes later for a well earned lie in.



I know everybody is sick of politics at the moment and I've managed to keep them out of the blog (mostly). I've written a fair few long rants but deleted them before publishing. It was nice, however, to see the Suffolk EU Alliance, (people from all parties who are pro the EU) holding a meeting at St Michael's in Framlingham on Saturday. And it was even nicer to go inside and find the place completely full.

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