Magpie Monday - Making a Stand for family time

Hi Magpies.  I'm just back from a lovely weekend away at Hastings on the south coast - if you haven't been you must, it's a real haven for treasure-seekers.

We managed pretty much the ideal family balance this weekend which is a rare thing indeed and a valuable lesson for all of us in terms of turn-taking and compromise.  We each got to do the things we love most, and everyone was happy.

Ruby got to spend hours in the pool at the holiday park and feed 2p coins into the slot machines.  The other half got to do the half marathon, and managed a personal best time too so he was happy.  I got to spend Saturday afternoon mooching around the endless charity shops and second-hand alleys picking up some great bargains.  And on Sunday we spent the afternoon on the beach meeting up with Anthea and her family at their beach hut, collecting pretty shells and interesting stones and sharing fish and chips.

Hasting and St Leonards boast a wealth of charity shops, antique shops and house clearance yards and really, it was a perfect day for me.  I picked up lots of great items which I'm in the process of unpacking and cleaning up now.

But my absolute favourite, both in terms of it's practicality and it's attractiveness (not to mention the steal of a price) was this shabby cast iron boot stand.

It has a boot scraper and stands for 2 pairs of wellies (I may need to downsize my boot collection!) and for an outdoor family like us who's utility room is strewn with walking boots and muddy wellies it's just perfect.

It was priced at just £14 which was a crazy low price to start with, but I had the nerve to haggle (in the politest way possible) and the lovely seller instantly knocked it down to £10.

I'm playing around with where it will live.  I'm not yet decided.  The Old Man has an irritating habit of putting my wellies in the garden shed, so they get nibbled by mice and I have to traverse the quagmire of a garden in the rain to retrieve them.  This somewhat defeats the object of having them.  So keeping them outside the back door would be perfect.

It would also be good to keep in our front porch, along with an umbrella or two, but that's already pretty crowded with scooters.  Or maybe we'll keep in in the utility and just house our walking boots in a tidier fashion.  Who knows.

Have you picked up any pre-loved bargains lately?

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