I had 15 spare minutes to catch up on every ones blogs and quickly zoomed through all the new ones until I came to the comment made by "anonymous" on one of the blogs I read. This I had to read twice! because it seemed anonymous had had a bad day and was letting off steam saying that ( amongst other things) people who had things they had finished with shouldn't sell them but should give them to charity because there are a lot of people who really need stuff. Having just done a car boot sale with two tables full of things I no longer needed made me wonder if I should have disposed of them a different way. But if I had taken them to a charity shop surely they would have sold them for more than I was charging anyway. The charity might benifitted but it wouldn't have helped "anonymous". We have no free-cycle or similar based nearby, so that was not an option.
It seems to me that Charity shops have got more and more expensive recently. Also there are lots of things some Charity shops will no longer sell. Once upon a time books were one of my favourite charity shop bargains, now often they are very expensive- especially at the Oxfam book shops. I have been told (and it may not be true) that thousands of books are sent for pulping every year rather than sell them cheaply. If I donate to charity shops I would rather they sold items cheaper rather than chuck them out. Which reminds me I must remember to take my bag of cross stitch kits ( ones I've had for years and know I will NEVER stitch) and other things that didn't sell at the car-boot into town for the Church Charity Shop. They don't ask if I want to register for gift aid and are grateful for everything they are given and don't charge a fortune for the things they sell and the money stays in the town. ( My preference would be The Hospice Shop - Him Outsides Mum spent her last days there and they need the money the most, but after taking stuff in once and finding that the two ladies didn't even pause in their conversation telling tales about an absent helper to say "Thank you" I decided not to give them anymore things! I now donate directly to the Hospice instead).Lots of new arrivals on the campsite today as we have The Lightweight Camping Group here for a 5 day Meet. First time they've been. Just like a normal camping group - but smaller tents!
Another picture from the garden to finish this tonight, This is my lovely Red Hazel, red leaves in spring with red catkins and later red tinged nuts - ALWAYS nicked by the blasted squirrels before we get a look in!
