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Post by janerowena on Jul 1, 2011 22:57:26 GMT 1
I came across that one on Amazon when I was looking for one for Robert. It had dreadful reviews, although the blurb was extremely enthusiastic. You are a dreadful saleswoman, you should have kept quiet and sold it to me anyway. ;D
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Post by Aspidistra on Jul 1, 2011 23:12:59 GMT 1
I wouldn't give it to you for Robert Jro, it's so awful.
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Post by janerowena on Jul 2, 2011 9:29:38 GMT 1
In that case, maybe you should sell it as a job lot, so that no-one marks yuo down from disappointment!
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Post by Aspidistra on Jul 2, 2011 17:19:57 GMT 1
Another successful day's bookhunting, then. Bought 3 books at a village fair, one said south Yorkshire in it somewhere and I bought it and then realised it was for the south of the North Yorks moors, nowhere near where we are going. Then I bought an obscure book called The Singer Not the Song, which I find there are hundreds of for sale on ebay. ::)Then another book which I don't really like, but I had been hanging around the stall so long I felt obliged to buy at least three books. ;D It was for charity. Then on to yet more gardens open for charity. The 'it's all going for charity' cry as I buy yet another tombola ticket is beginning to wan. I've spent a small fortune today on garden entrance tickets, teas and cakes, etc etc. I don't feel worthy, I just feel broke now. ;D. And more of the same tomorrow, as it's the last day of our (localish) open gardens for charity. It does raise some questions though. The woman who runs this one, for a local hospice, has no interest in the quality of the gardens. Basically, if you want to open your garden, you can. I'm not sure I really like that. I find it kind of irritating to drive around and then find some of the gardens are a bit rubbish really. I know one doesn't expect these sort of town garden openings to be up to the standard of the NGS, but I think you do need to have some standards. I've seen some v nice gardens today, but I've also stood in some incredibly boring urban gardens and just wondered how long one has to stay there politely before leaving. ;D
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Post by janerowena on Jul 2, 2011 17:35:00 GMT 1
That's a shame - I suppose the numbers look good - you know - 17 lovely gardens to visit sounds better than 5.
I don't know what happened to ours, we were supposed to have one this year but thank God there isn't one, my garden looks dreadful. Many of the trees and shrubs still have the frosted brown leaves clinging behind the newer green fresh ones.
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Post by Aspidistra on Jul 2, 2011 17:38:42 GMT 1
Exactly. The organizer has a huge number of gardens open, but I think it would be better to have far fewer, better quality. A different organisation has about 5 that open, and each one is busy busy all day, it makes it much better than driving to some godforsaken outpost and finding you are the only person they have had there all day.
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Post by janerowena on Jul 2, 2011 17:41:33 GMT 1
I don't know - maybe if the garden is bad it does, but we have one right on the outskirts of the village, some miles away, and it is huge but no-one goes there because they just want to walk round. It means we got to walk around with the owners and have things pointed out to us, and were offered a cup of tea because we were the first ones there! We had left it until last, and were just leaving when thankfully a second visitor turned up.
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Post by Aspidistra on Jul 2, 2011 21:29:07 GMT 1
I probably am just being critical because the woman who runs the open garden thing is the woman who cancelled the photographs she was going to buy from me after I'd ordered the sofa. ;D
Having said that, there are 70 gardens in this scheme. I think it's way too many. Another charity that does it does half a dozen, and does them well. It's the same with art here, the open art houses used to be a great thing, really good professional artists showing their work during the festival, but now every tom dick and harry shows their tasteless work and it feels like you waste hours seeing rubbish.
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Post by janerowena on Jul 2, 2011 22:48:05 GMT 1
70! That's got too big, it needs putting into smaller zones. The Wiinchester artists open house thing was excellent, they only allowed really good artists to open up, about 20 of them, but things used to sell so fast that people complained that the artists didn't have enough to sell - and they all wanted to buy the stuff featured on the front cover of the booklet.
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Post by Aspidistra on Jul 3, 2011 10:31:53 GMT 1
It is in zones. Just been chatting to my Mum about it on the phone. The thing is, she does raise loadsa money having any old garden in it, but it makes me squirm that some of them are so awful. I don't mean I being fussy, just some gardens have virtually nothing to look at in them. ;D Of course there are good gardens, too. ;D I spoke to one open gardener and said I wasn't ready to open my garden yet (she has asked me ) - Jro you've seen my garden, there's not much in it yet is there? And this other woman from the charity said, nooo, doesn't matter what it looks like, open it anyway. I know they want the money, but only the gardener understood that I wouldn't want to open until I had got a lot further with it. Am I wrong? This should be on the moral dilemma thread really. ;D Our open art house thing is also in zones. The people who started it try to keep their area group professional and won't take anyone, but for a Londoner coming down for the day you can waste an awful lot of time seeing houses that are full of rubbish art/straight out of art college art, and as they are often the buyers, I think it must be frustrating for them. There is also a lot of really excellent stuff but you have to know which houses to go to. The open art house thing is even bigger - there are literally hundreds of them now.
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Post by janerowena on Jul 3, 2011 11:25:58 GMT 1
The thing is, it is a very arty area. It m,ust still be worth it, and for the london galleries, imagine the excitement of discovering a new unknown talent amongst all the dross. ;D
Your garden looked so pretty. It did look weedy, but get rid of those that were in the wrong places, such as in the veg area, and it really did look lovely. I can put photos on here, if you want to canvas for opinions! ;D
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Post by Aspidistra on Jul 3, 2011 17:38:00 GMT 1
No thank you, you know I like to have my privacy respected... I'll post pics of my garden when I'm good and ready, thank you very much. Re the Londoners, I don't mean gallery owners come down here in pursuit of artists - no way do they bother coming down for open houses, it's not worth their while, the Damien Hurst's of tomorrow aren't usually exhibiting in their living rooms, even when they are unknown. ;D I mean that during the festival a lot of ordinary people come down and buy themselves the odd painting/bit of art, and it is them who get pissed off if they waste a lot of time in rubbish houses.
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Post by janerowena on Jul 3, 2011 18:06:31 GMT 1
I see. When I went round in Winchester, there was one place that sold vast canvasses. Excellent, but needed viewing from a distance and a house the size of Battersea.
Her main clients were hospitals!
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Post by peonymad on Jul 14, 2011 17:54:09 GMT 1
having seen too much of hospital art lately the big canvases at the local hospital are simply awful, except the one that is an almost life size bull (have a soft spot for them being a Taurean!)
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Post by janerowena on Jul 14, 2011 18:02:18 GMT 1
;D No, my neighbour was into sunny poppy-strewn landscapes and pointilism. Very soothing and easy on the eye.
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Post by Aspidistra on Jul 17, 2011 16:07:51 GMT 1
free posting weekend on ebay. :DDon't know if I can be bothered today, lethargy has taken over.
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Post by Nooj on Jul 17, 2011 16:16:28 GMT 1
I see from Dear H's e-mails he has won something - it seems like a piece for his model railway that he hasn't played with for years...... I shan't say anything
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Post by Fiona on Jul 17, 2011 19:17:59 GMT 1
I've bought quite a lot of things off ebay and something up for sale three time (not the same item though) two did not sell but that was a lot of years ago. One item I bought was of extreme poor quality and did not meet it's advertising bumpf and was not fit for purpose, I complained and they did not react, reply/zilch, not a thing from them. I contacted ebay and paypal and my money was refunded by them - I can't remember if it was the whole of the refund included postage or not (it was quite a few years ago) but I think it did. I asked the company to collect the item (a hat/coat stand was rather large to post) they did not collect so after 1 year it was mine. So my father welded it together for me as the screws and whatever were hopeless. I now have a coat stand that can be used and it only cost me the welding materials used.
Everything else I have every ordered from ebay (quite a bit of stuff over the years) has been excellent and the service prompt and good. I have also used paypal for other internet transactions, if the option is on offer to pay with paypal I always do as it is by far the best service for use on the internet.
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Post by Aspidistra on Jul 17, 2011 19:23:40 GMT 1
But don't you always have to pay a charge if you use paypal, whereas you don't if always with a credit card? ???Although sometimes you do.
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Post by Fiona on Jul 17, 2011 21:00:27 GMT 1
no charge for using paypal at all, never been charged to do so. I think it is a great service.
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Post by Aspidistra on Jul 17, 2011 21:04:17 GMT 1
So you only get charged if you use Paypal when selling stuff, then.
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Post by Fiona on Jul 17, 2011 21:09:17 GMT 1
Can't remember being charged but it would make sense.
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Post by janerowena on Jul 19, 2011 20:58:27 GMT 1
I use it whenever possible, too. It is a bank like any other. The charge is made to cover you should you have a disagreement with a buyer, then paypal steps in and sorts it out if necessary. It's a bit of an insurance policy.
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Post by Aspidistra on Jul 20, 2011 10:58:17 GMT 1
woohoo, sold my first article of clothing on ebay. ;DGosh, you get a lot more people interested in clothing than books. Now...looking around...what else can I sell...Bertie? ;D here, Bertie... you know how you love going in cardboard boxes, well...;D
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Post by Nooj on Jul 20, 2011 13:03:38 GMT 1
Stoppit!
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Post by Amazing on Jul 20, 2011 13:10:38 GMT 1
Aspi a friend of mine scours the charity shops for branded clothes then sells them on Ebay. Buys, say a t-shirt for £2 and sells for £5 plus postage
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Post by Aspidistra on Jul 20, 2011 13:35:44 GMT 1
no thanks, Nooj, I don't think he'd fetch very much. ;D I have a friend who is always fantastically well and quirkily dressed and always has been - entirely from charity shops. But certainly down here these days all the charity shops know what things are worth.;D Now, a bit of a moral dilemma yesterday, I wonder what other people would do. I was in our local charity shop, and a slightly special needs type woman went up to the counter and said, like a child 'Pleeeease can I buy this?'. She was pretty overweight and the item was too small from her. The woman behind the counter was saying, well it's not your size, and the girl said, but it's a 38, and I'm a 38. The woman behind the counter kept basically saying the girl (this is an adult, I mean), couldn't have it. I found it an excruciating exchange, the woman behind the counter was talking to her in a really patronising sort of 'no you can't have it' way. If you were working in the shop, would you have a) let her have it b) told her she couldn't have it, because it wouldn't fit her, so you were doing her a favour. I don't know what was right , the woman wanted it so much. In hindsight, I think the woman should have said to her to have it but bring it back if it didn't fit (which I somehow don't think the woman would remember to do) or maybe let her have it but charged her less for it, because she was clearly wasting money. It was a white dungaree affair, so not a designer thing or anything.
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Post by Nooj on Jul 20, 2011 13:47:15 GMT 1
Maybe she wanted to buy it for someone else? Oh no - just re read your post. I think the lady should have asked her to try it on - most charity shops have a little cupboard affair
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Post by Amazing on Jul 20, 2011 14:00:51 GMT 1
I would have let her buy it but also have said, If it doesn't fit bring it back. Also remind her to keep the receipt.
I wonder if the girl was a regular and shop lady knew her.
I know a lady who has learning difficulties and she is mentality assessed at 8 years old. She loves scouring charity shops and buys lots of wee girlie things, bags, baubles and anything twinkley. When she moved here, she had lived at home but parents couldn't cope, her carers were unsure where she should be allowed to buy stuff that seemed to be unappropriate for a 40 year old lady. They spoke with her parents who told them that they always allowed her to buy such stuff so it was ok to do so.
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Post by margaretstar on Jul 20, 2011 14:45:31 GMT 1
Amazing may be right here re "a known shopper". I was in a 2nd hand shop once and someone was trying to buy some things and the person behind the counter refused politely for a while and then it came out - "well if you really want to buy it you'll have to come in with your carer....." I think you will come across this more often in 2ndhand shops because the prices are affordable. (it can be quite ahem confronting at times if one at the moment isn't too sure about ones own "status" )
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