The Lobster Market...

This morning I went to the last local loppe (or lobster market as my 3 year old insists it's called) market of 2010. The hardy stall owners didn't seem to mind the cold strong winds and neither did the crowd of prospective buyers (I spotted my first snowsuit wearers today it was that cold, I also wore my English winter coat, I guestimate that my Scandinavian one will be coming out in a month or so. The winter tyres also go back on the car tomorrow, a sobering thought!). I have really enjoyed my jaunts here first thing on a Sunday morning throughout the summer, foreign junk is always a lot more interesting than that of your own country, and English car boot sales these markets are not. Yes there are the usual household stalls with pre-loved toys and clothes and shoes (I still can't believe how people will buy tatty second-hand shoes), but amongst them are the more interesting antique stalls selling Scandinavian bits and pieces from years gone by. The cupboards of Danish Mormors hold plenty a Royal Copenhagen vase from the sixties and seventies, stuff not wanted by many Danes nowadays (their cupboards are full of them too), but some of it is wanted by us "tourists", who scavange amongst the piles of Fajance looking for good deals. It might be a coincidence that things seem to go in phases here too, last week was definitely a Barbie week, but that could have been because I had my five year old with me so I wasn't tuned into the finer antiques! The week before there was a glut of strange cross-stitched samples on various stalls. Do stall-holders look out of the window and think, well it definitely looks like the kind of day that people would buy a certain item? My finds this year have included a couple of paintings, several vases and bowls and beautiful scandinavian jugs. Today I bought a wooden balance bike for my son for a mere 50KR. I am going to miss this market over the winter, but luckily the big flea markets carry on in the halls and auction rooms of central Copenhagen so my shelves won't be getting a rest just yet.