The old adage “you never know what you might find” could never ring any truer than between the aisles of a humble second-hand store.
In amongst people’s hand-me-downs and forced-to-sells I find a certain comfort.
Every item here has fulfilled its initial role, yet still has enough chutzpah to get through another round of life.
Sure, the veneer’s decayed and the manual’s bent.
Honestly, if I look in the mirror I find that I’m pretty much the same.
I pause to watch a teen with teeth like a burnt-out fuse box haggle her father into purchasing a used sax. Good luck.
A major benefit of the thrift store is that you get to try new hobbies, sports and more on the cheap.
Did you know that I started sandboarding? Neither did I.
The nicely waxed board in my garage, however, says otherwise. Now I just need a 4×4 so I can hit the Chimes.
Take music. There is a plethora of good and great quality second-hand instrument deals out there.
Even if you’ve never plucked an actual string and Mom’s your only fan, you could find Guitar Hero for half the market price.
Don’t know what you’ll do when your mates see you croon “Love is only a feeling” to your mum, though.
My latest find is a pair of Somalian Q’uranic writing boards.
Used by destitute Somalian children to learn passages of the Koran in parts of the world unfettered by the mighty pen, these tall and narrow slices of wood were rubbed clean with cloth each day, giving them unique aesthetics.
They’ve literally moved from genuine pirate country to a corner in a house in the middle of the Benoni suburbs in under 100 years.
Isn’t that amazing? The boards can’t compare to mankind’s multitude of achievements in the last century; serving instead as a solemn reminder of how it all could have been.
Going to the second-hand store is like being invited to scratch around in Scrooge McDuck’s attic, only not everything equals treasure.
Times are tough out there and people are prepared to sell anything to keep afloat.
Here’s a tip for the more practical among us: do you have a room or apartment needing to be furnished in order for you to rent it out?
Consider your local thrift store – you’d be able to get cutlery, crockery and a couch at a fraction of the cost.
Best time to go is with the seasonal changes, any month end and then at the grand opus of thrift store buying time: New Year.
There’s a metaphor that lies beneath the creaky wooden floor of this thrift store story.
It concerns the act of giving something another chance.
The quality of consistency and the consistency of quality.
Being a part of someone or something through the bad times and the good. Luck, too, of course, without which, true to this instance, there can be the difference between a Marshall amplifier and a marshal’s jacket.
Such as in life, the unassuming thrift store has its up and its downs.
They can be generous or parsimonious.
Still, it is always the thought of what might have been that hooks me in.
