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| The Old Port at Dieppe |
We’re
now home from our buying trip, ladened with goodies and a whole heap
is on its way. Unfortunately technology let us down badly, and the
computer crashed pretty soon into the trip. But I did keep writing
the blog – I just wasn’t able to publish it or any photos. So I
shall resume our journey just as we left England for France, and
shall publish the rest of the updates every few days until we’re
done.
In
the meantime, if you see us walking down the street for the next week
or two, look away and pretend we’re still in France. Unless you
want to visit us at the Peregian Beach Market next Sunday, 20 April,
in which case you will see our happy smiling faces and see what’s
left of the things we brought back in our luggage (heaps have already
sold, but there are still a few pieces I’ve held back especially
for Peregian).
So,
to continue …
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| The pebble beach at Dieppe |
Dieppe,
on the west coast of France, is a charming, medieval port town. It
is our port of choice when coming and going from France, and we
always make sure to take a hotel right on the seafront. The beach
isn’t anything special, being entirely pebbles, but it’s still
nice to look out over the ocean and feel the wind in your face. At
night you can open your windows to hear the quiet shush of the waves
on the pebbles and the cries of the seabirds, and it’s very
relaxing.
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| Carousel at Dieppe harbor-front |
It’s
especially relaxing if you’ve just filled up on a delicious dinner,
and Dieppe is rightly famous for its seafood. We had the best ever
mussels in cream sauce (Moules a la Crème – doesn’t it sound
better in French?). How easily pleased we are because this is the
most simple recipe, but I assure you that no chatting went on at our
table while we were tucking in – can’t talk, eating.
Then
it was a quick promenade around town, and right on the waterfront at
the old port we found a very old children’s carousel. It was so
French, with slightly menacing horses and an abundance of naked
women, and we loved it.
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| French angel, very Norman in design |
Next
day we headed off to visit Serge, a dealer who often has great things
if you’re prepared to scramble about to find them. I don’t
usually agree to clamber over teetering piles of wood, glass and
metal, where one wrong move will lead to the lot collapsing and you
dying a horrible, squishy death. But I make an exception for Serge.
My burrowing through piles of stuff at his place always results in
great finds, and I’m not dead yet.
This
time we carried off some great vintage French copper, including a
couple of large copper preserves pans, nice enamel buckets with lids,
yet more glass pate pots (now I have 52!), various vintage fishing
accoutrements, and best of all was a large haul of salvaged
ecclesiastical metal ware.
French
angels are very beautiful, and this time we have 19 pieces church
metal ware to offer, including angels and decorative items. They
range from as tall as my knee to tiny enough to hide in my hand and
were sourced from a demolished old church in the Mayenne region. I
think they will appeal to a lot of people – if I get to offer them
on the open market, that is. Most pieces already have dibs on them,
but if I have any left they’ll appear on our market stand as soon
as they arrive in Australia.
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| Brass Man-in-the-Moon, c1880 |
We
have been good customers of Serge’s over the years, to the point
that we are now always shown his secret stash. This time from his
secret stash I carried off three deep blue French ticking mattress
covers. You can’t beat the mellowed look of very old textiles that
are still in good condition. Two of them still have the remnants of
their original feather stuffing, which Quarantine will no doubt go
nuts over, but it’s nothing a good fumigation won’t fix. We also
took four large beautiful linen sheets, with ladder-worked top edges
and hand-embroidered monograms.
Even
better than getting access to the secret stash was the ultimate sign
of Elite Customer Status – I finally got to meet Serge’s cat. He
loves his cat and doesn’t introduce him to everyone, though I must
say introductions were a little difficult seeing how the cat doesn’t
have a name. He’s a lovely big ginger Tom with a wonky tail, but
he doesn’t come to you unless he can see you’ve got food bribes.
I had no food but did get a few cuddles through sheer trickery. I
have world class ratbags at my house, so I have some experience
outwitting moggies.
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| Glass carpet bowls 'jacks' - the balls you aim for. A bit over 100 years old. $15 for the 3, to be offered at Peregian Beach Market. |
Then
we found lunch in a tiny, out-of-the-way truckers’ brasserie, which
Doug really wanted to try. He
wanted to try it, but have me
do all the talking to get us in, seated and served something that
sounded nice. This is a tall order when I don’t speak a whole lot
of French and in tiny out-of-the-way truckers’ brasseries there
isn’t a whole lot of English going on. I made him promise that we
will attend Alliance Francaise when we get home – both of us, so
it’s not just me who has to muddle through. But anyway, I did
muddle through and we had a surprisingly good lunch. You’ve got to
make the most of the excellent food while you’re in France.
Next,
we shall explore a new region on the way to Paris, and then on to the
Porte de Vanves markets for our main French shopping.
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