Even the kids toys were glum.

If left alone on the shop floor a long time, you might be forced to make your own friends.

She's crazy with a drink in her.

However eventually, you might be persuaded to use you boredom for more constructive means. Tidying up around the shop for instance.

Before.

After.

But if it all becomes too much, you might simply see what else you can use the clothes tagger for.

Look a little closer...

You can indeed tag an orange.

Being bored in a charity shop can lead to many things, but most simply, it makes you wish you weren’t alone.

Reblogged from Stars and Rainbows:

Well, this is something new. Charlotte has begun a new series, called 100 Things I Love about England, and it’s inspired me to start this, although mine will be centred on London. My hometown. The city that I know and love. Admittedly, there are some things I don’t like about London, but the same goes for most places, and the good things far outweigh the bad. So…here we go. Something to add to 10 Things I Love, and Sunday Night Inspiration. Sometimes I might be able to think of many things, and other …

I <3 LDN.

(Just took me a couple minutes to remember whether McDonald’s had an apostrophe in it or not. Waterstones have recently taken theirs out again (is it again, it feels like they’ve done it twice now), and my next post on Sunday will be about shop signs and apostrophes.) 

Quite often when I go to McDonald’s for breakfast (for I rarely go for anything apart from breakfast, which I would eat everyday if I could) I always order the breakfast wrap. If you haven’t had one of these beauties, I encourage you to get to one as soon as possible, because they are the work of a god and addictive as hell. I need all my breakfast foods to come in the form of a wrap now.

So with me and my sister stood in the queue and I look around and I see this:

Mudpuddle Farm books by Michael Morpurgo.

A series of books to be collected with Happy Meals!

I’d read about this happening in The Bookseller (link to article) and I am so pleased about this. With ever more studies showing that children are reading less, families are spending less time reading to their children and less time together in general. For McDonald’s to give away a book (and also to sell them without the need of a Happy Meal purchase) instead of a cheap plastic toy (which we used to have a bin bag full of them in the attic, I hope we still do) is to encourage longevity and family togetherness, rather than something that could go in the McDonald’s bins with the food tray, without much of a second thought.

As so often is the case, being read to by my parents lead to a a life long love affair with the written word. Anything that encourages more kids to pick up a book, is fine by me.

I’ve always liked McDonald’s, I’ve liked their toys, I’ve had birthday parties their, hung out with my friends, and occasionally eaten something.

To give away books is both a boon to the children who can learn the value and the joy of a book, and to the McDonald’s PR team who, fair play to them, should be rubbing their hands right about now.

I’d love to hear anyone’s thoughts on this topic.

I found a bunch of old camera’s in a box that had just recently been donated. There’s was five of them in total but I’ll be showing off three of the most interesting ones here.

Ed, Edd, 'n' Eddy.

The Folding Camera.

A beautiful piece of equipment, although we did have some trouble opening it at first (and the subsequently more trouble closing it again) it was worth the effort to see it fully set up. It was in relatively good condition as well.

The leather on the case was faded, but the material on the pull out section (sorry for my lack or proper terminology as I’m not a camera buff) was in a very good condition.

I like my beats fast and my lens down low.

You know what they say about men with big lenses...

The Brownie Twin 20.

Although this isn’t such a remarkable looking camera, the part I found most interesting was the lens. (Also my mum told me that she used to own the same camera when she was a lass.)

Mmmmm... Brownies... *drool*

The reason I found the lens so interesting was because around the edge of the lens, there are bubbly textures from where the plastic has been heated up and melted from the power of the flash.

Whoops, wrong one. The Flash by dichiara. Picture is link to their deviantart page.

Burn baby burn, DISCO INFERNO!

This was interesting to me because it was also showing the levels of focus on the camera. From the picture I imagine (on no real expert merit) that the melted texture at the bottom was for close ups, the one at the top was for photo’s of friends, so say a mid distance shot, and the longer burn on the side was for landscapes or structure photos.

I reached this decision by actually playing with the camera and focusing it differently and seeing where the flash marks were on the lens.

I may be wrong, but it’s still nice to imagine which flash burns were used for which image, and if this piece is displayed on a shelf in someone’s house, could make for an interesting conversation.

And finally, my personal favourite.

The Rolleicord.

Suits you sir.

This one stood out for me basically because of the brown case it came in, and I also liked the top down way of taking photos.

What a tease.

Show it off, baby.

Camera on camera action.

You can see from the above photo’s how it opens, and what the view is like through the lens, as helpfully modeled by my little sister.

If I was going to buy any of these, I would have to pick the Rolleicord as my one to pick.

I love the brown case it comes in, and I can see someone with it hanging around their neck, looking down to take a photo.

All these camera’s are interesting in their own way, whether it’s their personal scars showing their history, the way they operate, or simply just the way they can catch your eye.

Camera’s have certainly come a long way in terms pixel density and zoom distance, but none of them capture that essence of photography that I think these do. The reason I say this, is because with today’s camera’s you can take as many pictures as you want, and then sift through them later to find the perfect one. When these where new, and even film camera’s today are expensive to run and maintain, that just wasn’t an option, and there was a lot more planning needed in terms of light exposure and composition. You rush a photo and more often than not you’ve wasted a film piece. These camera’s remind me of a time when patience was indeed a virtue.

Anyone can take a picture, but it takes a lot of practice to take a photograph.

Before I start though I will have a quick gripe.

Menswear is not taking enough chances. Sure, high up in high fashion town, the oddest of creations grace both the male and female shows. I may do a post about it but for now I’m sticking with the charity shop theme.   As it trickles down through the various channels to arrive on our high street, what are we greeted with? Trousers that settle on the hips, and a round neck, v neck, or deep neck line for our tops.

Not that much to go around. Women have high-waisted trousers, low waisted trousers, play suits, and more neck line shapes than I care to mention. Is it too much to ask that Topman take a few more risks? Apart from offensive t-shirts?

Sure some of it may look silly, but I want the option to look silly if I so choose. A dinner jacket with a square instead of a V? In her new column in The Observer, Lauren Laverne said that she has “been asked to explain why loving clothes doesn’t make you silly. Which is awkward because for me that’s precisely the point. Loving clothes allows you to be silly. Dressing is play for grown-ups and it should be pleasurable.“

I love the clothes that I wear, but men’s fashion, once you get to the high street, I just don’t find that inspiring.

However, saying that, here’s the picks from the charity shop shelves.

The Good.

Here’s a very nice dinner jacket, quite standard black affair much like the black dress yesterday.What makes this a good buy isn’t the jacket itself, but the fact it only costs £8. For that price you got a decent looking jacket you can pull out at the last minute, and not have to worry about where the night is going to lead you. You wouldn’t mind wearing this jacket at a foam party. You won’t be bothered about ruining it and you’ll be the best dressed guy there.

The name's Bond.

Next we have an official Harris Tweed full length coat for, wait for it, £12. Yep. I’ll spell that out so you know you haven’t miss-read it. Harris Tweed, full length, twelve pounds. That’s all I need to say here to show that this is a good buy.

I'm in the mood, for sleuthing.

B-E-A-Utiful.

Cords. That style of trouser which is still on the cusp of becoming fully mainstream. By which I mean that trendy shops (Topman, River Island et al) all sell them, but you don’t see a lot of people wearing them and they could still not make it. I own a pair of plum chords from Next which I am insanely in love with.

As it happens cords are rife in charity shops. If you want to try this fashion but don’t want to pay £30-£40 a pair, I found these 4 sets for £6 each or less.

And in a variety of colours as well!

The Bad Uninspiring.

Shirts. This is a shot of the shirt rail, and there is nothing too inspiring. Good for shirts for casual wear, and I know it’s a charity shop so you shouldn’t be aiming for the stars, I just find most of the styles to be very plain. Good for everyday wear but don’t use in a dress-to-impress setting.

Lots of shirts. Short on surprise.

T-shirts. Pretty much the same as before. You can get pretty decent quality shirts in between last seasons football gear and free promotional t-shirts. Nothing that could be mistaken for the penchant t-shirt makers have for reality TV sound-bites and pop stars. This one was the best of an average lot.

Hey soul hipster.

The Ugly.

This jumper.

Fine for some, not for others.

I’ve noticed these jumpers are popular with the artistic hip young crowd that regularly come in to buy them as regularly as we receive them. I say unless you’re one of these pretty young things, or a fisherman, stay away from these baggy shapeless dreks.

Honorable Mention.

This is a coat with the branding of the Savoy Tailors Guild. It’s a wool and cashmere blend, beautifully soft, very warm and a snip at only a tenner. Here it is with my scarf hanging out of the pocket.

This is mine, all mine.

This coat is one of my favourite things to wear. It’s a little big on me, so I’m planning on having the shoulders taken back, but you walk along and feel like you’re in the midst of a big expensive hug. All, day, long.

Let’s look at them together, shall we?

The Good.

First we have a calf length all purpose black dress. I think black dresses are the best thing for multiple occasions (even if I only have minimal first hand experience) as the look can be changed with different shoes and different accessories. The detailing around the middle of the dress is pretty, and stops it just being a bog standard black dress.

LBD.

This dress is good because it is versatile, and a snip at just a tenner. It could be the all function dress that you wouldn’t mind getting a little sloppy in. I’m not saying it’s going to change your life, but at that price? You won’t be asking it to.

Next we have a cute brown/blue skirt-cardi combo, perfect for college, uni, or just a nip into town. Pair up with comfy shoes for the daytime, or wear some heels and take geek-chic all the way till morning.

Geek Chic.

This dress is only £3, so that is a bargain to be had.

Finally, at only £5, these jeans bring a little bit of 90′s grunge back to your life. Perfect for lectures and a quiet pint down the pub afterwards.

Here we are now.

The Bad.

These Ralph Lauren trousers cost £20, and for the privilege you can feel like your legs have been re-upholstered by someone who has lived in a carpet shop all their life.

Lurvely.

It’s recommended on the label that you put these in a wet wash, so then you can’t wear them again. (You just have to read between the lines…)

Money literally cannot buy taste.

These jeans have a gold effect that looks like it’s been sprayed on.

Oiilll caannnn.

For five-pence-under-a-fiver, you can have legs the Tin-Man would be happy to check out.

The Ugly.

This Louis Vuitton bag (which is certainly a fake) was unpriced when I looked at it, and should stay that way. If it ever did make its way to the shelf, I would be strongly tempted to buy it, for the privilege of destroying it.

Just, heinous.

Wait till you check out the shadowing from the printer.

Sloppy, sloppy work. Even for a counter-fitter.

Louis Vuitton must be rolling in his... Unless he's not dead of course.

Honourable Mention.

Wet look leggings.

Just because I hate them so, so much.

They just look awful.

Look like you wear dead seals as leg-wear for just £3. Money better spent on a drink, but if you’re thinking of buying them, you’ve probably had too much already.

Menswear gets a turn tomorrow!

I found these horrible little buggers while checking a board game for pieces (which we eventually chucked FYI) and the tokens for this children’s game were a horrible mix of fairground copyright infringement and adult cartoon parody.

See if you can guess who they’re meant to be.

Such a happy bunch - Jolly, Sniffy, Snoozy, Crazy, Angry, Dozey, Brainy

I think Crazy is my favourite.

Enough to give you uncomfortable thoughts as to how it all could have turned out.

They look more like the seven stages of drug abuse. Blimey.

Why?

Seriously?

By the way, there is no branding at all.

No holiday destinations, no resorts, no hotels, nothing is named here.

Someone simply put an arse, on a mug. For no reason.

There isn’t even a front to this donkey.

If whoever made this had made it a mug with two handles, it would have been like Catdog’s sad sad sibling.

I was heading into town to go to the library and do some other stuff, and I was wearing quite a nice ensemble of clothes (if I say so myself), and I just couldn’t find a bag I wanted to wear with the outfit.

So, inspiration came from an unlikely source. Have you seen Disney’s Pinocchio? You may recall the scene where he goes to school for the first time (before that whole donkey/whale thing) and Geppetto gives him a book with a belt tied around it.

You can probably guess what I did next, so here’s the bag in action at Middlesbrough Central library.

The belting book carrier.

If you want to know how to make bag out of a belt in 3 easy steps, here you go.

First, you’ll need a belt (that you don’t mind stabbing into), a chopping board (or a desk you don’t particularly like) and a knife (or a proper leather cutting device of some kind, a knife worked for me).

Chopping board, Belt, Knife

The first hole you cut should make the belt wrap tightly around an A4 folder. The reason is that a hard backed A4 book of this size provides a sturdy base for all your other books.

Belt on book action.

Mark where the hole is to go, and begin the stabbing. To get through the leather, I used a mixture of rotating the knife and stabbing with brute force. Turn the leather over often and it’s easier to get through.

Die belt, DIE!

Then make a few more holes about an inch apart, away from the buckle.

Any holes a goal.

And voilà!

Ready to hit the town!

Admittedly it’s not great for carrying loose change around, but that’s what clip on belt purses are for!

I’ve not got a proper size comparison photo to emphasise it’s size, but this photo does have a size indicator hanger tag (the blue square thing, which incidentally as a young child I was absolutely obsessed with collecting whenever I went into clothing shops with my mother) which does go a little way to providing some kind of scale to this behemoth.

This is larger than it might look.

The gilding…

Objects in the photo are nicer than they appear.

When you open the book it has several pages of ancestry, lists where you can write important days, births, and inevitably, deaths. This particular specimen is empty, save for an inscription from giver to givee in the front cover. The inscription itself is rather interesting as it gives the impression that the giver, one HMB, knew that the givee, Neil, may not necessarily use this book to its full capacity with the line “Not for information.” This and the fact it looks like it’s never even been opened, which helps give that impression.

"Not for information." However - given with much love to Neil. HMB. Dec 1994.

If this book was new in 1994, we’re not looking at an antique, but we certainly have a very handsome specimen.

To carry on from this I would absolutely love to see a copy that’s been with someone for years and has been filled out, it would provide a concise albeit fascinating snapshot of someone’s life, and those they held dear.

Family tree - one each for husband and wife.

Life events.

And life's deaths.

If anyone has any more information on bibles like this I would love to hear about them!