Lest we forget.....

and ever consider moving again.

I got quite a lot more done today than yesterday. Mainly consisting of just flinging stuff into any box that came to hand. Not strictly true. But I do worry that method is not in my make up and some boxes are heading to be labelled, "God knows."

I really find it difficult to make decisions as to whether to keep stuff or not. I have quite a few things that I know could be/are worth a fair bit of money. But currently the energy and time to research is not available. Thinking back when similar circumstances arose and I got rid, only to see self same item make fortunes for someone else. So I haver between being ruthless, the items in question just will not suit my new lifestyle, then remembering why I obtained them, I liked them once.....or thought it a bargain, and worth far more than I had paid for it.

Many years ago my career was suddenly brought to a halt by a change in political masters.

At the time I was a Senior Officer in local government. My speciality was in Consumer Law, for which I had trained and qualified. In charge of a team of Consumer Advisors I had a very responsible job which I loved.

The Consumer Advice Department was promptly closed down by the incoming Tory Councillors. (They believed that their voters, the traders, hated us. Turned out to be totally the opposite as we championed their rights as much as the consumers.)

Under the Employment laws of the day they could not make me redundant. They got round it by redeployment and I became the highest paid clerical officer in the Pensions Department of the local authority. Shuffling papers around in a job that was actually specially created for me as the department didnt know what to do with me was not much fun. I spent a lot of time in the bowels of County Hall, asbestos lined as it turned out, going through dusty old files and then checking to see if people had died and were getting paid their pensions still.... Oh joy.

I took what leave was owing to me, quite a lot, as I say I loved my job. Gathered up all the bits and pieces I had gathered around me over the years and booked a stall on Barnsley Market, Thursdays was Flea Market Day. I did 6 Thursdays. I was a success. I ended up doing house clearances to keep up.

From there I moved into Craft and Curio Markets. Usually held on a Saturday(my leave had run out!) in some Public Hall or another. This was before car boot sales began.

There came a time when I had to decide whether to pack in the day job and become a full time Antique Dealer.

But fate stepped in. As it usually does. During the political turmoil of the cuts in local government I had met the Trade Union man who was fighting for our jobs. I married him. And became pregnant almost immediately.

You get more money with local government on maternity leave. So my decision was made for me.

Once my maternity leave was over I came to a mutually agreeable pact with the Pensions Department and I was allowed to keep my maternity pay and depart. Huge sighs of relief on both sides.

The rest is another story.

But that experience gained in dabbling in curios - well, who knows. I still have the one string fiddle that says its a Stadivarius! Though I doubt it.