Crafts and collectables? Not so much

These are pictures I took at the Hatfield Flea Market (Hatfield, Pretoria, Gauteng, South Africa).

I received an e-mail from the very nice gentleman who sells stamps and inkpads etc.  to remind me that he’ll be there.  He also mentioned in his e-mail that it’s the monthly “Crafts and collectables” market.  Oo, I thought, maybe I should get a stall there, let me go check it out.  I anyway needed some tiny stamps to put on the sides of my notebooks and my inkpads are getting dry.

So off we went.  This is not a very savoury neighbourhood, so my lovely husband insisted that we take the whole family – safety in numbers.  When we got there I was surprised to find the market had shrunk to half its size in the last few years.  But nevermind – crafts and collectables, here we come!  And what did I find?  Very collectable obscure brand toiletries and really crafty rip-offs of well known brands (where was the police, I wondered – oh, yes, I forgot: getting a cut of the profits!)  The closest thing to anything crafts was the guy with the stamps and a table next to him with collectable broken bone-handle knives with ridiculous prices.  I bought my stamps and inkpads and left.  I think we were there a full half hour, including a trip to the supermarket for fresh milk and a visit to the loo with the little one.  To say I was disappointed is an understatement.

If you’re reading this and live in Pretoria and want to contact the guy with the stamps, he is Mr Ockert Pretorius and his e-mail address is stamp-a-way<at>live.co.za

I seriously don’t know what’s wrong with the people who live in Pretoria.  There are about two craft shops and two fabric shops in the entire area.  Antique stores are closing down at a rapid speed.  In fact, there’s only one left in the Eastern parts of Pretoria.  Either I’m the only one left in the East of Pretoria who loves craft, and old things or the rest are just hiding it very, very well.  Maybe it’s something to do with the fact that crafty things and old things aren’t shiny enough?  Plastic does have a shine, you know!  Well, maybe it’s just me that has lost the plot somewhere....

Cecilia