Saturday morning at the shop

Aaaah, sweet peace! The previous week I was treated to a raucous, dodgy old dude on a keyboard celebrating the opening of the Butcher nest door and the week before that the hallelujah's at the church next door had me reaching for ear muffs. Today....sweet peace!

My husband who can never forget a face (as opposed to me who is hard pressed to remember a face), told me the keyboard player is wait for it...the husband of the lady who works for the lady who owns the Health Shop on Saturdays. Luckily he told me this, as Monday morning I pulled in next to the Bird Lady (who owns the Health Shop) and she asked me, searchingly I thought, how the music was on Saturday? I said, um fine. She said, really? I told her I wasn't sure how effective it was since our center is fairly isolated, so anyone who comes will only come if they want to visit one of the few shops open in it. Or the church. Music wouldn't necessarily serve as an attraction. She said the old man offered his skills for free as an opening present for the Butcher. Looks like a lot of people are hoping for free meat. On the bright side, the butcher is very reasonably priced, and conveniently situated next door!

If you study this photo carefully you will see a Zulu man browsing the shop in full traditional gear. He looked slightly intimidating so I didn't ask to take his photo, but kind of sneaked one in from afar!

We opened the shop a little late today, as since we moved to smaller premises we are taking a lot of stuff to the local auction every Saturday, and one of the staff didn't pitch up. I used the extra time to take photos of my online stock to list, which is great, as it gives me more free time tomorrow. Though I still have some photographs still to take. Now at the shop, I am once again struck how different Saturday customers are from weekday customers. And with the newly opened Butcher next door I get many what I call tentatives. You would swear I was selling cockroaches instead of second hand goods. I am developing a game...when a car pulls up I have to decide quickly if the customer is for me or the Butcher. It's not very challenging though, as many of the Butcher's customers are, shall we say, people who look like they enjoy their meat!

Today it seems I am being forced to talk to people. Why do they want to talk so much??? I had an amusing old couple who wanted to sell goods but the husband was stone deaf. The wife, instead of relaying my message to him, encouraged me to shout louder and louder. At this point I started enjoying myself. As he went, extremely slowly, to fetch his goods, the wife continually explained his hearing difficulties, on a loop. She informed me how you needed to shout, but sometimes shouting caused a whine in his hearing aid, and he got mad. I learned about it's settings, how he talked on the phone and then she showed me some ninja like hand signals she used to aid communication. I did say he moved extremely slowly. When he got back, it seemed she was now ready to translate, but instead she was telling her confused looking husband I said he needed a new hearing aid, and that his current one was rubbish and I would look out for a new one for him. I don't think he understood though, he looked blank.

I will end off this Saturday saga with a heartwarming tale. I have previously blogged how our country (South Africa) is still very racially divided. One of my regular customers, who is I might say, a little snooty, what you would term a typical rich white lady, suffered some kind of illness which has confined her to using a walker, even though she is my age, ahem under 50! As she was walking shakily out the shop, to her fancy car, a black man was watching her. He just looked at me and said, shame, I wish she gets better quickly. And he didn't know her at all! He said it with all his heart and I immediately was drawn to him. We chatted and I found out all about his family and some of his future hopes and it was a lovely encounter. I always say it is ironic I have a shop as I don't like people. Which is only for the most part true.

It is almost time for home, especially with my shortened morning. I will pop in and visit my husband at the auction. I also want to see (another black man) friend, as ever since he heard I sold vintage tools online, he has brought me hand saws, as a gift to me,  for me to sell. He collects old money, notes and coins, so I am going to take him some as a thank you present. 

My daughter and her boyfriend have promised to make lasagna for supper, so I am going to eat and veg for the rest of the day. I wish all of you an amazing weekend! Namaste

@onetree