My student loan running increasingly closer to zero, I thought I’d try Christmas shopping on the cheap. After an evening of crowds at winter wonderland the night before, I thought I’d dodge the high street and find some novel gifts for friends and family somewhere the hoards wouldn’t get to. How could I be so wrong! As I turned into a passage off Mile End, I was expecting a jumble sale a la Brighton marina, however what I faced was a queue half a mile long. I walked to the end, annoyed I hadn’t bought a coffee to sip on whilst waiting.
What was I queuing for? Those allusive one pound vintage sales nonetheless (why not go the whole scrimping hog?). After waiting for over thirty minuets, I wondered if it was worth it. The explicit gossip of those surrounding me was growing tiresome, however I had come this far, and the coffee I was so longing for had just turned up cutosy of a friend also aiming for vintage bargains. Between the sea new balance trainers and bleach blond topknots came a scary looking bouncer demanding a pound for entry, we olidged – out of fear, mostly – and went in.
What carnage! Ombre ponytails were colliding, plum lipsticked snarls were grabbing over what superficially looked like a pile of junk. My slightly groggy morning self was tempted to do a 360 there and then, but then I spied a row of fur coats and decided to wade on in. Under the plaid shirts and stained sweaters, there where definitely a few bargains to be found. A friend found a pair of heavy duty wool army pants and plenty of fur collared ski jackets, whilst I grabbed a canary yellow blouse and some lovely tweed trousers, both looking much more expensive than a quid! Once I had collected enough stuff to make my arms ache, I decided to pay. ￡7 for eight items, not bad for things which would have cost me at least seventy pounds to buy new! I left feeling chuffed, and spent the afternoon sampling exotic food on Brick Lane (I would recommend the malaysian pancakes, seriously yummy and cheap too.) Despite the slightly lengthy start, it ended up a good day. If you fancy going to a￡1 sale yourself, I would suggest not planning to do things afterwards; carrying loads of heavy clothes in a bin liner gets seriously annoying in the crowds. But overall a really nice pre Chirstmas day!
If not already familiar, take a peak:
freyasthought 