Thank fuck Sport relief is over, because it was becoming nigh on impossible to avoid all the ballyhoo and indeed constant hard sell, of the Beebs ad machine in full on war mode. Something that is handled with all the subtlety of a full on marching band. To avoid the horror I decided we needed to escape and what better way than a junk tour.
By the way before I ruin it by banging on about the Beeb, this is the first junk tour of the new year. A trip out to east London, not quite the east end, but close, you won't find any cockneys here but every other nation is well represented. Walthamstow is pretty decent actually, known for its massive street market (and dog track Greyhound Enthusiasts, we had Catford on our side of the river until it closed in the early 2000's) and quite a few charity shops (thrift stores to the Americans.) This will be the basis of today's tour.
Exiting through the bus station you come to a small park, that is seemingly the home to the Socialist Wanker party, perennial miseryguts, who, even when labour are in power, remain humourless Marxists, possibly the worst kind of human being ever. There were the local christians out in force handing out leaflets and an african handing out cards advertising the services of a Marabout.
The market itself is about a mile long strip of stalls selling everything from Islamic CDs (my favourite We remember Allah) to your more regular fruit and veg. There are a few items of interest there including a few stalls selling Ashens worthy toys, a particularly horrendous doll (luminous doll if I recall right) and an Islamic version of those educational Vtech rip offs. Onto the shops itself.
Scope. Previously the Spastics Society before everyone got sniffy over the name Spastic. Scope are big players in the charity shop buisness. Every town seems to have a Scope, no matter how large or small. Walthamstows Scope is situated right at the top of the market making it the first stop on the list.
We got a Terranova CD there, their not bad DJ Kicks mix album: a mix of breaks, rap and electro along with a few techno classics (largely Carl Craig stuff) made this an must purchase.
A small pit stop to visit the excellent indie game store (almost hidden behind of all things a butchers stall) just down from the 99p store. We picked up Star Ocean Second Evolution for PSP (a rework of the PSOne classic) before moving down to Age UK.
Age UK. Previously known as Age Concern, before they were amalgamated with Help The aged a few years ago. They are another mainstay of the Charity shop system. They didn't seem to be selling much but we did pick up a classic Geogaddi by Boards of Canada. The Sandersons homespun IDM, straight from the wilds of scotland. We've never actually owned a BOC album, just odd tracks on selected compilations, so far we like what we hear.
Moving further down and the market eventually peters out into a mass of Polski Skleps and Pardotuves supplying the Eastern Europeans in the area. Our destination is Oxfam a massive store on the corner of the street, and its here we hit paydirt. They sell a lot of books and stuff often at a horrendous price, we didn't get anything here but there were one or two things of interest. They had an Abicah Soul Project ep for sale, for fans of deep house, and in the childrens book rack a signed Michael Rosen Poetry anthology.
I really regret not buying this, theres bits I remember from YTPs including Harrybo (who we learned died age 17) and various bits that sound familiar including Abdul and I think Melanie, oh one of them was titled conversations with a six year old. No poems on "plams", no poems on the school inspector and no none on no-o-o-o breathing which is a shame, as it seemed -click-
NICE.
Our final shop was Crest a local charity and proper dingy as well. There was a rich vein of old commercial dance including LFO, a Guy Called Gerald Voodoo Ray and what I grabbed House fly by Tricky Disco.
Old Warp tracks are what I grew up with and its a nice to finally end the day as we started it.
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