The Friday Market: Archive

Books

A lot of books. On magic, poetry, art, mysticism, history. I make a pile of the ones I want. Soon I have eleven and the pile is so big that a lady comes over with a box for me to put them in. Thank you, I say. I ask her her name. She says, It’s Margaret. I ask her how much she would like for the books. Oh, five pounds, she says. This is a good price and I am happy to pay it. I say, These are...

Jun 1st

King of Meat

The King of Meat is talking. Come on superb bit of beef look at that. Fit for a king come on. You just tell me what you’re after lovely lamb look at that gorgeous. He lays out some lamb chops on the counter but nobody is stopping to look. The King of Meat continues. Okay now anyone for a nice bit of pork let’s have a go. Gorgeous superb. One more time come on. He slices up a pork joint with a...

May 25th

A Mystery

Colin and Darren sell records. I’m looking at a record by Faron Young. Good record, says Darren. I say, He’s a bit of a mystery to me, but I always liked the song Apartment Number Nine. Colin says, Do you want to see a real mystery? From under the table he produces a seven-inch record. He points to the label. Look, he says. Side A: Mystery Girl, Jess Conrad, on Decca. He flips it over. Now...

May 18th

Yuri Gagarin

Yvonne sells stamps. She arranges them by theme: birds, flowers, animals, aircraft, and so on, all in small stamp albums. I ask her, Why do you arrange them by theme? She says, Some people collect stamps this way. I ask, Do you collect stamps yourself? Yes, she says. I collect space stamps, ever since I was a child. I show her the silver Yuri Gagarin badge I always wear for luck. Yvonne smiles....

May 11th

Orthodox Calendar

A little book, in what I presume is Russian. It has 1961 on the cover, but that’s all I can understand. I ask Kevin, who owns the stall, What do you know about this little Russian book? Nothing really, he says. I ask, Where did you get it? He says, A house clearance. I ask, Was the owner of the house Russian? Hm, he says. He calls over his assistant. He says, Did we do a clearance for a Russian? ...

May 4th

Tokens

A box of little metal discs with imperial monetary values on them — 1d, 3d, 2/6 and so on — very thin so that you could bend them with two fingers. Around the values they say J. SALMON & SONS LTD. They look like money but they are not money. I ask the stall-holder what they are. He says, Tokens. Excuse me, says another man. He wants to get past me but we are in a very small space. As I move...

Apr 27th

A Murder

I’ve got lots of things to show you today, says Simon. He does. A book called The Death Ray Dictator with a very handsome illustrated cover. A set of silver cups designed by the same man who designed the World Cup. Some pornographic photographs from the sixties. A piece of two thousand year-old pottery. A Suffragette pamphlet. A map of British photographic societies. But these are really...

Apr 20th

The Top Pickle

Cheeses and pickles. One of the cheeses is called Green Thunder, and it is wrapped in a thick coat of green wax. I say to the man behind the stall, This is an unusual-looking cheese. Green Thunder! he says. It’s the top cheese for my pickles. And I am The Top Pickle. He hands me a business card. it says, Gary Crocker, The Top Pickle. The Top Pickle is a giant man, with giant hands and a giant...

Apr 13th

Olives

Aman sells olives. His table is covered with glass bowls, each one piled high with different types of olive. He says, Would you like to try one? I say, I’m sorry. I don’t like olives. Oh well, says Aman. You win some, you lose some. I look at all the olives Aman has on display. He has queen olives, cracked olives, kalamata olives, colossal green olives. And then the stuffed olives: garlic, feta,...

Apr 6th

Crotal Bell

I am with my friend Craig. We are looking at boxes of dug-up things: buckles, thimbles, coins. One box is marked ‘Crotal Bells’. Craig ask Sarah, who owns the dug-up things, What is a crotal bell? She says, It’s a bell that you put around the neck of an animal — a sheep, a cow, a horse — so you know where it is. They are from the Middle Ages. The crotal bells are made from bronze, green with...

Mar 30th

Clogs

A pair of yellow clogs. They belong to Colin, who says, Call me Pom. Everyone calls me Pom. I say, Where did these clogs come from, Pom? He says, Holland. So I ask, And how did you get them? Don’t remember, says Pom. I had them for ages and then a Dutch lady bought them. She said they were the best shoes to have, very warm and very comfortable, and hard to find in England. But she brought them...

Mar 23rd

Shirley Temple

I am at Simon’s stall again. There is much discussion about a signed photograph of the film star Bette Davis. A lady says, You can tell it’s her by the eyes. Yes, agrees another. How much is it worth? asks the first. A hundred pounds, says Simon. Simon is having a tidy-up. He is putting children’s things in the Children’s box, music things in the Music box, and so on. We look at a publication...

Mar 16th

Agricultural Tools

I am holding a spanner designed to be held, more so than is usual. It is beautiful in itself, perhaps because its function is so much a part of its appearance. I ask Brian, who owns the stall, what it is for. What’s happened is, says Brian, A farmer has needed a spanner for an awkward job, and he’s said, Charlie, knock me up a spanner like this, will you? And that’s what you’ve got. Also on the...

Mar 10th

Mussolini

Ben sells books. Books on art and history, on poetry and religion. On the table there is a book about Mussolini with a striking picture of him on the cover. That’s very rare, says Ben. It is written by one of his lieutenants, and was published in Scotland. Il Duce, I say. A madman, he says. I prefer Napoleon, says Ben. He was mad, too. But Napoleon is France. French law, architecture, finance,...

Mar 3rd

Angus McBean

I am making a selection of black and white photographs. All the people in them must be dead. They belong to Simon. Simon buys and sells pictures. He keeps some, he sells some. Old pictures used to be cheap, he says. But not any more. He says, Now that hardly anyone prints photos, they have become Objects. He says, Have you seen this? And shows me a small framed photograph by Angus McBean. It is...

Feb 25th

Postcard

Neil sells postcards. His table consists of rows of postcards all separated into different categories. I am browsing through a section entitled ‘Comic’. There is a postcard with a picture of little boys chasing ducks; of two women with big bottoms in bathing costumes; of an old man pulling a funny face. One has a colour engraving on it of a man in a small room surrounded by many unruly children....

Feb 17th

Life-Boat Mug

I am with my friend Drew. Drew is visiting from Fort Wayne, Indiana. We are talking about mugs. I say, In an honest household everyone should have their own mug. Drew agrees with this. I say, We should get you your own mug, for when you visit. Drew agrees with this, too. We go looking for mugs. The Friday market gets cheaper the further into it you go. At the top end the stall-holders know the...

Feb 10th