The lure of eBay

Is fearful strong. I first signed up, oh, over a year ago, and have had great fun indulging myself in fulfilling a few fantasies from childhood. At surprisingly little cost, I gradually acquired a full tea and dinner service of Masons Ironstone, something I had lusted after for years. The lust fuelled by memories of tea with my grandmother, and Gwen, the woman she lived with. That is the quick way of saying it - the relationship was not in the modern sense of that phrase. Maud, my grandmother, answered an advertisement for a "companion" - ie, a sort of housekeeper cum general factotum, terribly old-fashioned to contemplate nowadays, but in the late 1950s not quite so weird. Gwen was a fascinating woman, even as a child I was able to sense that, and she was a huge influence on my life. Maybe I will tell more of the story one day, who knows? Anyway, I loved spending time with them, and in the way that can happen with things from childhood, these feelings somehow attached themselves to the Masons china. Now I have my own, feel as if I have reclaimed a part of my past, and enjoy using it, giving thanks to the wonders of the internet and - eBay.

The next important childhood link was Mary Plain, the bear cub from the bear pits of Berne, books that I lapped up in my extreme youth. Then they disappeared - they did actually resurface some time in the 1980s, I believe, but in an incarnation so unlike the original that I didn't recognise them as the same thing. Now I have quite a few of them, and love them as much as I did when I was six or so, evidence of my extreme intelligence and good taste of course....or something?

But this was beginning to get expensive. I put off selling for ages, not quite sure why. But all of a sudden, I did it. Oh, jeepers, it is even more fun than buying, and the bank balance increases rather than decreases. Slowly, to be sure - although I have sold one piece of spinning equipment that has gone for a tidy enough sum. It is too exiting - and sooo time consuming, I feel compelled to keep checking to see how many people have looked, got on watch, bid. Perhaps I will grow out of it? I need to discipline myself a bit better - well, ain't that the truth!

So - yesterday, I found myself in dire need of packing materials for some eBay sales, and with a new-to-me car sitting outside that I needed to familiarise myself with. And, the sun was shining. More fun - getting lost in the Calder Valley back country on a sunny day, in a cute little red car, having just had an entire hour of Stationery Porn at Staples. Wow, bliss. I certainly got to grips with the clutch! (Thinking about it, I could have phrased that a tad better.....)

And in order to keep the record and my head on the straightish side - the shawl is not quite but very, very nearly off the needles, I have very, very nearly filled the second bobbin (it takes a long time to fill a Schacht bobbin with fine yarn) and I am still playing with the bead-woven strip. One step at a time....

gw