Yards of bargains

Crossroads intersect on a North Shore lawn

LIFE HAS taken some drastic
turns lately, but nothing pre-
pared me for the high speed
bend I careened through a few
weekends ago.

By Kevin Gillies
Contributing Writer

At this time last year I lived ina
bachelor suite with the valuable
stuff I had accumulated and carried
around all my life: baseball mitt,
Toronto Blue Jays clock, bench
press ... you get the idea.

; Last weekend I was living in a
three-bedroom house with lady and
child and I was preparing for my
first-ever yard sale. You know,
those things that are of passing
interest from the passenger seat of
a car.

This decision was one we had
reached (myself, half-heartedly)
about a week earlier. It was diffi-
cult to accept that I was about to
part with things I had diligently
collected through many years of
bachelorhaod. Worse, I was selling
them to strangers.

Nonetheless, | dutifully sorted
through the 20 or 40 boxes that
were. packed and stored away.
Things deemed fit for sale were
moved toward the front door.

My companion did the same
-with her stuff, getting an earful
every time a toy made the
“saleable” pile’

' Two friends expressed a desire
to sell some of their wares with us

-and the sale of the century was on.

hp SIR AURE TEES SE NAPE OE ET TNE BS HEP EET

We placed a litte. non-descript
ad in the North Shore News clas-
sifieds (Yes, I'm blowing the
paper's horn a bit but read on). We
advertised that the big event would
take place Sunday from 10 a.m. to
3 p.m.

By Saturday night, the entrance
to the house fooked like a storage
locker with all of the merchandise
we two couples could muster piled
high.

People had started coming
around looking for early bird spe-
cials since early Saturday morning.

There was x note on the dish-
washer in the yard proclaiming
“dibs” on the item.

It got to the point where I was
prepared to ask people how old
they were when they stopped tak-
ing reading classes.

It became clear that I was deal-
ing with a sub-culture created by
our free market society. Some of
these bargain hunters were surely
looking for stock to fill their store
shelves.

Sleeping in (until 8:30 a.m.)
Sunday morning was next to
impossible as our yard filled with
strangers who were carefully
examining our expendables. The
sale-leader had awoken early and
lined the yard with a makeshift
shelving unit made from brick and
board. The shelves were then lined
with mugs, glasses, lamps, toys.
clothes etc.

Throughout the day, people
meandered in and out of our yard.
Vanloads of people pulled up jook-
ing for second-hand clothing,

Otter ends Sopl. 30/9

‘Specializing in Blinds and Eee for over © 8 yeuts

984-410

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: Vancouver.
Whistler.

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housewares and furniture — any-
thing that was practical but cheap.

My burnt-wood pictures never
sold, which was unfortunate
because they were never allowed
back in the house (they sit beside
my eight-track collection in the
back alley).

Most of the people who visited
our yard were skilled negotiators
and shrewd hagglers. A couple of
times | caught my companion get-
ling angry at some customer's
insistence that a certain pile of
clothes was only worth two dol-
lars. The salesperson clearly felt it
was worth $10 so the needy will
get it for nothing. Fight stubborn-
ness with stubbornness.

The organizers handled the deli-
cale negotiations that come with
such an event while [ sat on the
tweed, fold-out loveseat (a real
bargain at $30) and watched the
World Cup final. Although not for
sale, I pulled the television out
onto the lawn to feel more a part of
the action.

When the rain came at 2:30
p.m., shoppers slowed to a trickle
and Brazil] had won the shoot-out. |
helped load stuff back into the
house. The end was near. All that
was left to do was to reload some
of the unsold merchandise back

" NEWS photo Nell Lucente

WEST VANCOUVER’S Sabrina Lee (left) shares a laugh with
HRH Prince Phillip (centre) during the Duke of Edinburgh
award ceremony at the Waterfront Hotel in Vancouver. Lee
accepted an award bestowed on a group from Sentinel sec-
ondary school. Other North Shore honoreys included:
Alireza Azmudeh, Ann-Marie and Sevil Conway, Andrew
Greenway, Jennifer Haffard, Tracey Leacock, Scott Munro,
Grahame Quan, Glen Phillips and Jennifer Smith.

into their nooks and crannies,
throw some out and make a pile
that would be donated to charitable
organizations.

This soon after The Great Sale,
I can’t even recall which of my
worldly possessions are gone

(including the ones my roomie’

threw out).
What has stood out as mildly

amazing, however, is that the daily
sales totalled more than $350.

A year ago my share of the take
probably would have covered a
night on the town and another
burnt-wood picture.

This year it will probably go
toward something useful.

But then, crossroads always
look better in the rear-view mirror.

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