May 1 holiday/vide grenier

May 1 is a holiday in France, but this year it is different.

Our village each year holds one of the largest vide greniers (empty attics/flea market) in France. Locals and people from all over the country set up hundreds of tables until every street and parking lot is full of used things at prices below rock bottom.

Not this year because of the virus lockdown. Still I can imagine what it would be like.

There are also food stalls selling sausages, chicken, snails, the local vegetable grill, fish, pastries and candies.

Catalan dancers and singers perform in native costumer (see photo).

The drone of Catalan music is heard over loud speakers along with the hum of the crowds searching for a new treasure.

I have always tried to be in Argelès for the vide grenier. Much of my Nest was furnished from finds including a wonderful set of copper pans. I ended up sending with a Syrian friend to Damascus to have them relined with tin and the total cost was less than a pan handle would have cost new. Not to mentions over 25 glasses (water, champagne, wine) with delicate blue bases for 9 Euros.

Many of the things in the Warren (Rick's and my flat larger than the studio Nest) come from different  vide greniers. Not only is recycling good for the environment (not for the chains and malls), the items have a memory.

We bought this set for 10 Euros in 2013. There were five glasses. This year it is down to three and I'm afraid we will need another glass set, which I would have probably found in this year's event but won't. We don't want more than 6 water glasses, 6 champagne glasses and 6 wine glasses (although we do have a few more than 6 wine glasses left over from the previous owner). I still think we did well not to break any of the blue glasses for so long. The pitcher we will keep. More than one sun tea has been made in it.

Six napkins were bought in 2014 for 5 Euros. They were for our picnic basket which has china and tableware all bought from vide greniers. The basket itself cost 2 Euros, according to the woman who bought it for us when we hadn't been able to locate what we were looking for. It was perfect.

Our cookie jar and I can't remember the year we found it. All I knew there it was and we had change from our 10 Euro note.

There are other things we've bought such as games, DVDs, table cloths, etc. All under 20 Euros.

This isn't shopping, this is hunting treasure. Also it saves me having to go into a store or worse a mall (shudder).

I do hope as the summer goes on the vide greniers will once again be set up in various villages on Sunday mornings. It makes a pleasant morning wandering between the tables and then finding a nice restaurant for lunch if we haven't nibbled too much from the food available there.

Hopefully next May 1 things will be normal.