Selling Stuff and Saluting the Scots

Saturday morning was very dark and damp when I got up at 5:00am. I was getting rid of some junk at a local flea market, looking forward to the morning but a little skeptical, really wondering if my cast offs would really be someone else's 'treasure'.

Kota had been very helpful in checking out my boxes the day before. I got to the market by 6:15 and waited a bit to set up as it was still so dark and a mist of rain was slowly falling down. I sat and drank my coffee watching other vendors unpacking their wares with flashlights. I knew it would only take me about 10 minutes to get everything out and I felt I was a little lacking in 'stuff' to sell. Everyone else seemed to have a lot. As the day struggled  to become light, heavy grey clouds hung over us and I was feeling pretty despondent by now but got up anyway to arrange my stuff on the table. Sure enough I was done in 10 minutes so sat in my chair and waited for the first customers. My table is on the link below:
http://2012daybyday.blogspot.com/2012/09/i-loaded-up-stuart-and-did-flea-market.html
 My neighbors on either side were very friendly, the guy to my left comes every week and the 2 ladies on my right were raising money for a charity to honor a recently deceased relative. I had to admit my stuff looked a lot better than theirs but as the morning started they were both getting a lot more interest in their tables than I was. The rain kept drizzling down and I was constantly up and down covering things up and then uncovering them again, or putting them in my trunk. I was seriously thinking about packing up and forgetting the whole idea but really I had nothing to lose by staying put and so I sat back down again.
But then after a couple of hours the sun came out, more people arrived and before long I was selling my stuff left, right and center. I enjoyed the haggling and chatting, and especially having to move more of my stuff to the front as empty spaces kept appearing on my table as items were purchased. By 1:30 I had sold a good 80% of my goods and decided to call it a day. I let the ladies next door take what they wanted for their charity and then put the remaining stuff in a box to give to a thrift store. I couldn't believe it when I added up my crumpled notes and discovered I'd made nearly $200! New tires for Stuart!
Later in the day I drove over to the next village to look in on the Scottish Games which were being held at Great Meadow. I purposely left it towards the end of the day to avoid paying the $20 admission and sure enough as I trudged across the field to the entrance, they let me in since there was only an hour or so left of the day.
 I strolled over to the games section where some robust lads, and lasses, were chucking a beer keg as far as possible. It was full, so must've weighed a ton.

Lots of grunts and howls ensued as they hurled their kegs down the field in much the same way as a discus would be launched. I was very disappointed to discover these American 'Scots' were nearly all wearing bike shorts under their kilts. Not sporting at all!

The day's heat had most folks wilting in any shade that could be found and the beer tent was fully occupied as people lubricated their parched throats.

A sculpture called The Virginia Horseman looks over the meadow, a tribute to all those that have worked with horses.

This is one of the fences on the Steeplechase, I was amazed at how high these horses have to jump.

A band were playing under the main tent and I had to stop and listen for a while, They were superb and I've always had a soft spot for bagpipes.

But then I realized the vendors were closing up for the day and so I headed for the stall that sold Scottish foods. A Scottish friend of mine had raved over the meat pies sold here in previous years so I thought I'd have one for dinner. And I got an Eccles cake too for dessert.

Here's my meat pie. I knocked up some English mustard to go with it. And was very disappointed. The pie was not nice at all, with hard tasteless pastry and stodgy fatty meat. The Eccles cake was rotten too. Oh well, the baked potato and veggies went down well with a glass of red and after having had such a good day, I wasn't minding one little bit!