Where’s Rembrandt?

Certainement parmis eux je suppose.
Bon weekend heureux et reposant.

Merci, Malik.

on the bottom right side, Steve!
In front there is a library, paintings, ...
Splendid reflections that allow for a very diverse store, Steve

You get first prize, Judite!

I see what kind of store it is
I thought it was a second-hand goods store

I recently read a novel called Preloved, by Lauren Bravo, set in a charity shop, and thoroughly enjoyed it. I volunteer in a charity shop where giving, bargain-hunting, collecting, altruism, frugality, friendship, humour and caring merge into a wonderful place to shop and work. What did we ever do without places like this?

Completely agree with you, M.J. They are the heart of many communities. This one’s in Broomhill, Sheffield, my favourite Oxfam for second-hand books. I’ll look out for Preloved. I bought The Enchanter, by Lila Azam Zanganeh, and it’s a good read.

Whatever happened to the Junk Shop?
Once a staple part of the retail diet,
Sojourn of many an otherwise fruitless tour,
A place where things were found:
Things you never knew you needed
Until now.

Gone now.
Crippled by town centre redevelopment and rent reviews,
And assassinated by the Charity Shop,
Where junk comes dusted, laundered even.
Where virtue in its palest incarnation -
So pale it’s almost transluscent -
Has replaced pot luck, sour service, ain’t got change of that,
And thus the junk is refined and redefined.

Handy, in a way.
Saves going from town to town in search of
Things you never knew you needed.
There’s a charity shop on every street.
But frustratingly they seldom have in stock
Things you never knew you needed.

But wait! What’s that? Surely not?
A pair of pink peep toe slingbacks;
Haven’t seen them in ages.
Wonder what size they are.
No matter; I’ll get into them
Even if there’s a bit of overspill.
Why not?
There’s overspill everywhere else.

I believe in pre-loved,
Even if the description offends the truth.
I believe in retro chic cheesiness.
I believe in fishnet stockings,
Backcombed hair, Odorono, Vosene,
Which Twin Has The Toni? Pac a Macs,
Zinc baths hanging on a nail on an outside wall.
I believe in insipid coffee in Pyrex cups,
And sugar in a scratched glass jar with a silver funnel.
I believe in black jacks and fruit salads.
I believe in plastic wallets and Highland Toffee.
I believe in Christmasses long gone,
When last year’s decorations hung again from the same tin tacks,
And a frantic search eventually found the spare tree lights bulb.
I believe that when your Gran popped the cork from a bottle of Pony
And told you she loved you in a breath with a new smell
There was a ten bob note coming your way soon.

I believe that pink peep toe slingbacks
Was the starting point for Georges Braque.
I believe that some people have Morton's toe
And it makes them fall over;
Nothing to do with secondhand pink peep toe slingbacks of course,
Else why would I be buying them?

Great poem! Who wrote it?

I wrote it. Steve Bucknell’s eye for a photograph occasionally inspires me to thought, and even more occasionally the thinking leads to a written record. I was glad to read your comment and enquiry. Thanks very much.

I am a fervent admirer of Rembrandt painting and Flemish painting. Bottom right.
I am amazed at the variety of things you can buy in this shop. I need some rain boots. It has been raining and snowing for 15 days now.

Have a great Sunday Steve.

Cheers, Anton, and you.

Right on the right wall, Steve! I'm a good observer, you know!

Yes, but where am I? I was stood in front of the window taking the photo, but I can’t see my reflection at all!

Yes, those pink peek toe slingbacks are a revelation.

Yeats knew about junk shops:

“Old kettles, old bottles, and a broken can,
Old iron, old bones, old rags, that raving slut
Who keeps the till. Now that my ladder's gone
I must lie down where all the ladders start
In the foul rag and bone shop of the heart.”

from The Circus Animals’ Desertion.

I like the shop Grot that Reggie Perrin started :

“Lots of things that aren’t any use, some of them are red,
some of them are green and some of them are puce.”