Jumble sales 2: Fantastical

 

 

OF COURSE – the jumble sale post brought in wonderful suggestions for books, and memories of people’s own experiences at jumble sales, and comparisons with equivalent events in other countries.

There’s the original post

The Intricate World of Literary Jumble Sales

And there’s Graham Greene

Graham Greene: The Man for a White Elephant Stall

The people’s favourites (of those unmentioned by me) were undoubtedly the jumble sales in Barbara Pym,  Excellent Women, and in general the author’s interest in the disposal of old clothes. We all remember Miss Morrow turning up in the dress belonging to Fabian’s deceased wife in order to lure him in.

‘You seem different tonight… your dress is becoming…Constance had a dress rather like that once.’

That’s in Jane and Prudence.

Also blogfriend (and distinguished author) Hilary McKay identified a wonderful Just William story and told us where to find it.

William--the Outlaw | Project Gutenberg

‘The White Elephant stall contained the usual medley of battered household goods, unwanted Christmas presents, old clothes and derelict sports apparatus.’

I would like to add this real-life story, a family legend. I was once going round the houses asking for jumble in the classic manner. A charming woman said ‘Yes! What a great opportunity to get rid of some toys, come into the playroom.’ And in front of her son, who was maybe 7, she picked out stuff from the (millions of) toys. He meanwhile threw a complete tantrum, which she totally ignored, yelling ‘they are my toys! I play with them all the time! Those are my favourites! I am going to go to the jumble sale and I am going to BUY THEM ALL BACK! I WILL BUY THEM ALL BACK!’ They were tussling over them, he was trying to grab them out of her hands.  It was awful.

I had no children at the time, and sometimes things make more sense when you have them, but that one makes no sense, ever. WHY didn’t she just quietly tell me to come round after bedtime..? (That boy is 40-odd now, assuming he survived the trauma)

Anyway, I WILL BUY THEM ALL BACK is our family goto phrase ever since for anything we are reluctant to accept.

 

As I said in the original post, I had by no means exhausted my own file of mentions in books. This one was next in line

Murder Fantastical by Patricia Moyes

published 1967 (also known as Murder by Threes)

The book has series sleuth Henry Tibbett looking into a murder in a very fancy house.

One of the visitors is the bishop of Bugolaland – a character who (slight spoiler as he is neither victim nor probably culprit) appears in a later Moyes books

A Six Letter Word for Death by Patricia Moyes

There is going to be the Annual church Fete in the Grounds. Will Henry’s murder investigation hold things up? Of course not.

There are elaborate preparations as important items arrive at the posh house, and the result reminded me of found poetry:

Dining room bottled fruit, drawing room jams and jellies, jumble in the study.

Lucky dip in the garage.

Hoop-la in the morning room.

“But he promised to let me have the bran for the tub. And the hoop-la rings.’

‘I’ll go and give the Bishop a hand with the lucky dip’

Guessing the vicar’s weight, sixpence a guess, and one of Miss Whitehead’s home-made cakes as a prize

[This obviously would have been ideal for Rowe in Graham Greene’s Ministry of Fear]

Sheets for the refreshment tables, sacks for the sack race, where to put the fortune-teller’s tent, and the composition of the bouquet to be presented to Lady Fenshire

 

And an exposition of the usual thoughts:

 

We get the same things year after year. Mrs A buys Mrs B’s old hat, which would disgrace a scarecrow, just so as to contribute to the Church Roof Fund…Next year of course Mrs A brings the hat along again and Mrs C buys it.. It would be so much easier for everyone if eple cud just make a financial donation. But oh no. there has always been a Fete and there always will be a Fete

And – ‘ the jumble booth was in many ways the heart of the fete’

There is a distinction between items for the Lucky Dip and the jumble – presumably the better items are Lucky dip but also those ones have to be wrapped in brown paper ‘because of the bran’.

So there is a splendid scene where an item is pursued from Jumble  to Lucky Dip to Jumble again, then on to the fortune teller’s tent

The description of the fete is deeply authentic, whereas the two major plotlines are rather nonsensical  - so read for the picture of life rather than the crime.

There is an aspect of the ending of this book that is very surprising – how one character sees their future. One of the most memorable aspects of the book.

I wondered if there were pictures of bran tubs out there – as in the lucky dip stall at the fete – and came up with a lot of pictures of elegant baths in shades of taupe and café au lait.

The Lucky Dip I found is from Sarah Cee Designs, on Instagram and Pinterest, and she said she made them for summer fairs…. so spot on, although £2 sounds reasonable to us, but would have made the villagers faint...

Look out for more entries, and add your own in the comments.

 

 Top picture:

Morda Hospital Fête, Oswestry | Teitl Cymraeg/Welsh title: F… | Flickr

 second picture: much more modern, but truly timeless

 File:Cake and jam at village fete - geograph.org.uk - 5262257.jpg - Wikimedia Commons