The Value of Things

Well I've come to the conclusion that if you don't have a blog then, simply put, you aren't very interesting and couldn't possibly make any meaningful contribution to society.

With this in mind I thought that I'd start keeping a journal of my never-ending op-shop search for more velvet jackets (and whatever else I can find along the way).

You may be thinking "But I know Peter! Surely he can't be this shallow!". Well I'm afraid dear friend that you are wrong... I am. Vanity runs deep in my veins; any reflective surface I pass is a potential mirror in which I can parade my jackets, even if only for myself... so there.

It was a beautiful Spring day not little more than 18 months ago when I (with my co-conspirator) stumbled across op-shop paydirt - a velvet jacket ... in fact a men's velvet jacket, meaning I could wear it without being overly conscious of frilly lacy bits. The location was Angaston; a small town in South Australia's Barossa Valley. Henceforth it has been known as the promised land for op-shoppers; being with little more than one main street it hosts 4 op-shops/recycled clothing outlets AND a pub with good food and Cooper's Pale on tap AND a gourmet cheese store AND more dried fruit than you could ever poke a stick at (if that your type of thing, stick poking that is) AND it's about a 5 minute drive to the Yalumba winery.

Finding this jacket lit a fire inside me, a burning passion, nay, a near holy quest to acquire more of them. I hadn't been in the op-shopping game for too long, perhaps not entirely appreciating the magnitude of my find at the time. Surely if Angaston has velvet jackets, then the op-shops in major cities will be littered with them, they'd be giving them away... "I'll throw in a couple of these..." they'd say, leading to much insincere protesting.

I returned to Angaston later that year, at Christmas and came across more velvet jackets, two navy blue ones... But I was young and foolish and only bought one. What was I going to do with TWO navy blue velvet jackets anyway? (and my brown one) It was a hard lesson to learn. "Seize the day" - that is what your attitude should be when pondering over an op-shop purchase. If you don't get it then some other bastard will and they'll probably sell it at some fancy piece-of-crap recycled clothing store (aka Secret Men's Business on Auburn Rd) for $350, rather than the $25 you can buy it for RIGHT NOW!

Anyway I digress... Today I am older, wiser, slightly richer and more wrinkled, but more importantly - I appreciate "The value of things".

The sober truth is that velvet jackets are hard to come by in the op-shopping world, there are many things that conspire against you: lack of dedication, lack of personal profit motive, morals, the fact that they only turn up in op-shops following the death of the previous owner etc etc. So, sometimes you just have to take what you can get. Hence the scope of this journal will include other things, obviously not as important as velvet jackets... but worthy of a passing mention.

Peter

ps. I am aware that some people will attempt to gleam velvet jacket related intelligence material from this journal in the hope of securing one for themselves, Please be aware that I ALWAYS confront ANYBODY I see wearing a velvet jacket and wil repeatedly "question" them until they crack. So you won't be able to get away with it...

pps. Corduroy doesn't count.