I am in the 27^th year of living in the same house in Totnes in a little street of 60 homes, a few minutes walk from the high street. I have had the delight of watching the town develop a progressive and thoughtful vision. …

Auto Rickshaws, a Naked Picnic, a Primary. Only in TotnesRead More »

On a heavenly Sunday afternoon two days ago, Nshorna, my three grandchildren and I went off to a car boot sale in a large field just outside Totnes – the first time for five years that I have strolled around a local car boot sale. Wow! Hundreds of cars poured into the field with drivers, passengers and families looking for bargains. [More…]

Amidst the sunshine, there were countless numbers of holiday makers in Devon wandering around checking out the hundreds of stalls set up from backs of cars. My grandson, Kye, eight years of age, and I bought a bag full of goods – a new football, DVDs, computer games, baseball cap, small models of sports cars and so on. We still had a little change from our £10 spending money.

Kye’s capacity to hassle in the sweetest way to get the price down won over the stallholders. While walking around, I felt much appreciation for the culture of the car boot sale, local markets and e-bay. Last week my daughter bought a wonderful bed and an unused firm memory foam mattress on eBay, She sold her old bed on eBay for more than she had bought it for a couple of years ago on eBay.Her cheap old mattress only offered discomfort.

She could never have afforded the bed and mattress if she had gone into a store or would have landed herself into a monthly debt for the next two or three years. Markets, car boot sales and ebay are a wonderful way for people to buy and sell goods outside of the consumerism of the debt infested shopping malls. There is an extra buzz in bidding online or bartering in the market. We are used to bartering in India. It is good to see that the same culture is developing here.

There is a rich tradition of markets around – food, clothing, household goods etc. Markets go back thousands of years. They act as a meeting point, a chance to be in the open air or join others in the covered top markets, still found in most small towns. It is a chance to bump into friends and pick up a real bargain at a stall. Markets offer a relaxed, chatty, informal atmosphere – such a contrast to the soulless and clinically cold environments of shopping malls, inhabited by isolated selves We need to give as much support as possible to car boot sales, markets, ebay and reduce our dependency on the shopping mall.

Incidentally, I don’t own a car but am currently looking for a cheap mountain bike with a rear passenger seat for my two year old granddaughter, D’nae, so we can join Kye on his mountain bike on the local cycling and walking tracks. (It’s hard work jogging after him). We were outbid on eBay. That’s the beauty of it all. We don’t have to live in a culture of “I want it now.” We can develop patience and quietly keep focussed until the bargain emerges.

I mentioned in a previous blog that Brighton is a postmodern city. I have been asked what I meant by the concept. I might even go as far as to say that Brighton is possibly the capital of postmodern cities in the UK. …

What does Postmodern mean for Brighton?Read More »