I usually post over in the mix section & wasn't sure where to post
this thread - so it landed here, I am sure someone will tell me off
or delete it if it's wrong!?
I live about 15 miles from my old stomping ground of Milton Keynes {UK}
I lived there for 40 years and was quite glad to see the back of the place
to be honest. I still head that way once a week however to do my radio
show which is broadcast from the back of an industrial estate carpark
in the rougher part of town.
My visit to MK on this occasion coincided with me having to go to our
studio to record a session with a new band called Joana & The Wolf.
I could not miss out on the opportunity to have a wander through the
quaint streets of Stony Stratford which is the posher {most expensive}
part of the city, where there are several charity shops and smarter coffee shops*.
*It was in one of these that the scene in a tea room was filmed for Withnail & I.

Anyway, off I went with optimism in my heart and about £15 in my pocket...



Stony Stratford is such a foppish-town that it has a "special" welcome
sign that for some strange reason looks a bit like a gravestone.





Of course SS is probably most famous for being the original source of
the well known English catchphrase "a Cock and Bull Story", which began
when tales were exchanged between drunken punters of the 2 pubs,
The Cock and The Bull, both in the high street and are 20 yards from each other.








My first stop was the Willen Hospice shop, but going by previous visits
I was not optomistic. I did bump into dj Andy Kershaw going through it's
boxes a few years ago but I remember that the only record I have found
here in over 10 years is Peter Wyngarde's album - which was nice.


The overpriced stock (£1.99 does seem a little steep to me} yields little
joy, however there was a Mary Mungo & Midge LP and some old Irish Folk
comp hidden in the depths, but I didn't buy 'em, sorry.




Round the corner & opposite the Bull Hotel however was the legendary
RSPCA shop. I have had some incredible buys in here over the years and
am rarely disappointed when I pop in.


Todays vinyl choice was pretty grim tho, a box of Geoff Love
& old TOTP albums, cheap as chips but all shit.


The cds are a better buy, 10p each for albums by Stone Roses, Tull, etc



with my bag of booty, £1.20 well spent, I head to the Red Cross shop over the road.
Never that much in here but I have come across boxes of cd promos dumped
by local djs, so I had fingers x


pretty much as I expected, Nelson Riddle & Mantovani box sets.


a few doors up is a bit of a tease of a shop, they sometimes sell cds
{but not today} so it's mostly overpriced books you could pick up at
a car boot for a fifth of the price, ah well, onwards.




the Age Concern shop over the road used to be a lovely old bakery called
Hazeldines that was there for 150 years until they couldn't cope with the
supermarket around the corner.


It's a grim visit with slim pickings, some tapes, VHS videos and NO vinyl, rats.


[img][650:488]http://i293.photobucket.com/albums/mm50/shanequentin3/towntrip12.jpg[/img]
across the road my hopes were higher as it was in this very same
Oxfam shop in 1986 where I picked up beautiful UK mono copies of
Pink Floyds' Piper & Saucerful in MINT condition. I still have them &
have never forgotten their origin!


as I approach the racks I see a lovely Sonny Terry & Brownie McGee
album sitting at the front for £1.99 in great condition, that will do nicely
but that was all there was.




as I head out of Stony I drive up to the industrial estate between the
town & our studio dropping into the Age Concern Warehouse.

[img][650:483]http://i293.photobucket.com/albums/mm50/shanequentin3/towntrip19.jpg[/img]
I know there is always a lot of records upstairs but in the downstairs office...

[img][379:500]http://i293.photobucket.com/albums/mm50/shanequentin3/towntrip17.jpg[/img]
... they keep the "pricey stuff"



I wander upstairs where there may be hidden treasures


and this was the pick of the bunch, a Mandingo best of on MFP
in near mint condition and ok for 25p.. So that was the end of my
charity shop hop in Milton Keynes, I know all there are dozens more
shops spread across the city, 13 in Bletchley alone.
But thats gonna have to be another day, maybe next week!

We need more posts like this....

This is like a blog.

quality post. I love digging through thrift shops.


question:


how many pence to a pound?


and


who approved placing the letters of the cock hotel, over the windows?!!!!

sorry, I don't mean it to be so, its a new ongoing project
I am trying out & hoping others will post their experiences too



£1 = 100 pennies



good question, I will remember to ask them next time I am passing!

I have a fresh photo selection I took while I was on holiday
last week & will post up over the weekend. I am off to Kettering
this afternoon armed with my new birthday pressie from Mrs. HG
a dead fancy camera, niiice!

Thumbs up!

Excellent story, Shane!
Like one of Squirggle's adventures, but on-foot, and condensed into a single day.

Fresh from my adventures in Lakeland, I was lucky with the weather
but not so fortunate on my crate digging. In all my years of coming
here I have no recollection of ever buying anything worth anything in
the charity shops here, ever, so hopes were not high and I was not to
be disappointed.
Although I checked the racks in Workington, Wigton, Silloth and yes,
even Cockermouth, it seems that the Lakes are a wasteland as far as
vinyl and cds are concerned, its not even a case of someone getting
there first, there was simply nothing there to begin with. Still, I did discover
that it is the cheapest place in England to buy old VHS tapes, 5p each! great...



On my journey south to Maryport I passed through the village of Allonby,
which has a lovely beach and nice ice cream but I wouldn't want to stay too long.



so here I am in the quaint seaside town of Maryport, little did I know of the unexpected suprises I had in store.



first stop was Age Concern, a common problem round these parts

[img][650:525]http://i293.photobucket.com/albums/mm50/shanequentin3/P1010110.jpg[/img]
with very little in the way of vinyl, just a box of free newspaper cds going cheap


and a wall of VHS videos, guess Friends ain't so popular anymore then

[img][650:553]http://i293.photobucket.com/albums/mm50/shanequentin3/P1010127.jpg[/img]
I found some records under the granny coats near the back of this shop


nothing to get excited about however, if only this was NOW 4 on cd
rather than the common vinyl as the original compact disc is a £250+ gem


[img][650:488]http://i293.photobucket.com/albums/mm50/shanequentin3/P1010121.jpg[/img]
walking down to the harbour I found the tide was out and god knows
how many old supermarket trollies were lurking in those muddy depths.



heading back into town I passed a window in a pub with a noticeboard
claiming a recent visit from New York rockers The Liars!?! blimey!



with fingers crossed I tried my luck in COSC


finding a bounty of cds but alas, nothing to my liking, how odd then that


for some bizarre reason they had a male blow up doll available for sale,
"ohh we were going to put that in the window" said the lady behind the till


I was unprepared for the excitement on offer next door in The Childrens Society,
once I had managed to get past the heavy security on the door!


2 albums {leaning against a radiator!} and some singles chucked on the bottom shelf


a selection ranging from The Fall to Benny Hill to the Black & White Minstrels all scratched, oh how unfortunate!



surely Oxfam wouldn't let me down even if they had so much crap it spilled into the street


ahh young man, let me pull out this box of new fangled compacted discs for you


nothing in there my dear, however I did unearth this olde England curiosity album,
and no, I don't want it sorry love but thanks anyway.

So in the end I spent nothing but came away with happy memories
of all the other places I visited where there was no smell of old wee
and the sparrows came to eat at my table

reminds me of capn's road story posts, except actually about music

Thanks for posting - post more.

This thread = thumbs up.

Keep em coming!

I meant nothing negative by my use of the word blog. Keep them coming.

Can I ask what you are shooting these pictures with? (Instant camera, LSR, camera phone) Do people look at you weird when you start setting up albums in the shop so you can snap photos?

This is an amazing shot! I love how the little sparrow on the right is leaning over to the other, planning their move, "Hey, mate, do you think we can steal that whole slice of cake?"

are you enjoying a juice box there?

these were taken with my old Olympus 3.2 mega pixel camera
but since I took those pics I have had a great new 10 mega pixel
camera from Mrs HG so expect results from that soon!
I am fairly brazen with my picture taking and take as I see
and nobody has batted an eye yet. I am considering taking pics at the
car boot sales tomorrow but I shall see how it goes, I imagine some folks
could be pretty cranky if some chap starts snapping away at their stuff
first thing in the morning.
and yes, thats a lovely Ribena juice you can see in the last pic

there were a couple of other pics I took at that time {which are probably
of no interest to anyone but I will post em anyway!}

there was some crumbs left by the birds which my dog Enzo tried so hard to get



looking away from the table with the birds was further excitement as the local flock of sheep was herded by!

Does that really say "Pish Hotel"?

nah, it's Fish Hotel, unfortunately!

Ohhhh!! Haha, it would've been great if it was "Pish"!

solid posting here.


and no i'm not being facetious.

I dig your posting.

For my 3rd adventure I travelled west of Northampton to the wilds of Daventry.
Mrs. HG has an irrational fear of this town which are quite similar to my own
pointless, personal dislike of Bedford, which is to the east.
With the local swimming pool closed and nothing to be found in the dozen or
so boxes at the local recycling depot I hit the shops armed with £10 and with
little optimism. The Sue Ryder Care shop is the one stop i'm most looking forward
to as i've had my best finds there on previous visits.


What more of a welcome do I need?



A pain free experience is on offer at my first stop.


It's pretty slim pickings in the music section at the back.


This was the pick of the bunch but I felt compelled to hang on to my tenner.





Round the corner is a trio of shops right next to each other which
must surely lead to competition - which has the worst tat probably...



An uninviting basket of cds and well thumbed 7"s sends me straight next door.





I once bought a pile of Stump & Bogshed records in here so God knows what I'll find today.


Unfortunately it's a pile of old Rod albums, no good to anyone.





Would I come out on top in the curiously named Fops Shop?


My pulse quickened at the sight of a box of albums left by the back door,
not because of the undoubtable delights of Ms. Mouskouri but for the sight
of a Stevie album lurking behind hinting at the possible pleasures deeper in.


It proved to be just a tease as the only excitement to be found was this cheeky Keep Fit album.
Resisting temptation I moved on leaving Leida to a future lucky dipper.






Wandering onto the High Street I arrive at the aforementioned Sue Ryder Care shop,
and it's bloody shut!!
shit.




Hopefully I will have better luck in here with the sign of 'new goods' on offer.


[img][650:491]http://i293.photobucket.com/albums/mm50/shanequentin3/daventry13.jpg[/img]
This small basket of cds dumped on the floor doesn't look too promising.


However a deeper dig uncovers the Black Dog cd 'Spanners', a bargain at 99p.






Jangling with a pocket full of pound coins I drop into the Red Cross opposite.


I spy a box of albums hiding under the ladies clothes, it's almost too exciting!


I manage to calm myself down by turning the albums on offer down.






My final stop is the BHF shop in the town square, they "never sell records anymore" not a good omen.



£2.99 for free magazine cover discs?! I have tried to reason with them about
this unusual price structure before but was once told "well people still buy them"
it won't ever be me.



I head home with my one compact disc not too suprised at my
lack of booty and feeling I shall look a little closer to home next time.

Jeebuz, you guys have an abundance of thrift shops.