A Trip to the Market

London is a great place for street markets and although I don't always go to them every week I do like to have a mooch around from time to time.  One of my favourites is a proper East End street market with stalls from one end of the high street to the other, selling all manner of things from fruit and vegetables, fabric, hardware, trimmings, clothes, underwear, books and many other things besides.

The reason I love this market is that you can always bag a bargain, and it is not yet gentrified with prices to match.  Today was no exception.  I often come here as there is a multitude of fabric shops that I like to have a look around, as well as a Wilkinson's store plus lots of other shops.  Today, however, I had a limited amount of time as OH needed the car and so I had to get back, but I had an hour or so to look around the market and a couple of shops.

As soon as I come out of the car park there is a stall that I cannot ignore and like to look over as it sells very cheap new books, both paperback and hardback.  I have bought some great books here in the past and today I bought this one. 

Although I'm currently trying to stick to the 5/2 fasting diet I am struggling to manage two fasting days per week, so this one looked interesting and at only £1 I was happy to give it a try.  I also found a cycling book for OH for Christmas too, but I won't post a photo here as he sometimes takes a look.

Moving up the market I came across a stall selling vests, also at £1 each.  I was wearing one today I'd bought on a previous visit in dark grey and I really like it.  It shows just enough chest at the front so that I don't feel over exposed, is a nice fit and is made of a good quality t-shirt material so doesn't look cheap.   I bought a few more in various colours, a few striped and a few plain.  They will be great in this heat and for our forthcoming holiday to wear with shorts and skirts.

I did pop into one fabric shop and these fabrics caught my eye.  I subsequently bought a metre of each at only £1.65 per metre which didn't exactly break the bank.  I'm hoping to make both into skirts to wear this summer or on our holiday.  I'll keep you posted on how I get on with that project.  I liked the ruffles as they are quite feminine and floaty and it is stretchy so will hopefully be nice and clingy.  It might be a bit tricky to work with though.  I've made my daughter a loose fitting dress before now using similar fabric.  It's hard to tell from the photo but the top one is chartreuse green and the bottom one a dark grey.

The fruit and veg stalls at the market are amazing.  You can buy everything by the bowl for £1 each and it must work out far cheaper than the supermarkets.  I bought a bowl of large Jaffa oranges (5) for £1 and 6 small ripeish avocados for £1 too.  Cheaper than Lidl even.  I always think I must come more often and do my fruit and veg shopping here, but always forget what good value it is.  I really must make the effort to come just for this reason.  Sometimes, however, you seem to get so much it is virtually impossible to use it all before it goes off, unless you cook it up and freeze it.

My final purchase was this nightdress from a market stall.  It's an M & S one, probably a second or old stock I suspect, but I really liked it and it is nice and light for hot summer nights.  It cost £5.

So I spent a few pounds, but everything was very good quality and value for money, proof that bargains can still be found.  I could have spent much more if I had had more money with me or enough arms to carry everything back to the car, but it's probably as well that I didn't.  I just really enjoyed the outing, especially in the sunshine, it was just a great place to be on a hot summer morning.