Loches was the venue this time. And the white barriers were out across many of the streets with “Route barree” signs scattered around. We weren’t the first to arrive but there was still a good deal of unloading going on. My attention was drawn to an open backed lorry stacked with metal children’s cots, garden tables and folding chairs. This was a good lesson in don’t be polite and wait, just grab someone’s attention and get what you want before it gets sold to someone else! The charming and rather besmirched and dusty vendor offloaded two cribs for me. There have been so many, many things learned since that day – and one of them is that metal cribs are gorgeous but they don’t sell very quickly and they do take up a lot of space on a pitch. Lovely as they are, I’ve not bought any more.
Loches had been a local “vide grenier” in a historic and picturesque town but the market at Joue les Tours stretched for miles down a road in a Zone Industrielle on the outskirts of Tours. The energy was different here – less of a casual strolling, more of a determined push and pace. There was a mix of stalls – some selling clothes, toys and videos, some just come for the day to clear out the last of Grand Mere’s bits, and then the professional dealers with their old white vans, who aren’t about to sell a metal bottle carrier for under 15 euros!
