Bric a brac and other French junk.

Going from something that excites me on to something that excites my other half but leaves me pretty much stone cold, the Frenchman’s propensity to sell any old junk and expect silly money for it!. 

The weekends are peppered with "Vide greniers",Brac a Brac’s and Brocante’s in the towns and villages of the Charante. Picture a car boot sale which shuts down the road network of a complete village, pepper it with stalls selling everything you can imagine,Honey,Plants,Jewellery,crepes ,Pate,Brandy, etc then interspace it with 50 or 60 stalls holders emptying the the entire contents of outbuildings and barns and their homes, but not with fare the likes of which we see at Car Boot sales, but with things that are rusty,broken,tatty and worn. Some of these people much have been carting these same items around since they were NEW,(sometime in the early 1900’s methinks!) yet no matter how unrecognisable and obsolete these items are, they want the EARTH for them and in many cases get it. They,for instance, would attempt to sell a Barbie with no head and a missing leg!. How much do you want for it Mr Frenchman?? 10 euros !!…Ouch. I mean,  I  get embarrassed for them but they carry on with brazen confidence. But that having been said,we always come away with something,there are bargains to be found, eight matching sundae glasses for 5 euros ….that will do nicely. Maybe the cringeworthyness of it all will eventually settle with me……Or not……