Jeg udfordrer loppetorv! - I challenge Flea Markets!

Nu vil jeg steppe ud på tynd is og udfordre en trend, som i bund og grund er god! Rigtig god, faktisk!

Loppetorv!

Der er for alvor gået gang i loppetorvsbranchen her i Danmark. Tidligere leverede man sine ting til forretninger, der sælger til velgørende formål. Nu er det gået over til, at det er forretninger, hvor private kan leje en stand, som andre bestyrer, og så kan man tjene penge til sig selv. Fint nok, ingen problemer i det.

Det, jeg har svært ved at forstå, er, at det er blevet en hobby at gå sådan nogle steder. At man tager afsted uden andet mål end at 'kigge'. For langt de fleste nøjes ikke med at kigge. De kommer hjem med noget. Noget, som de aldrig havde skænket en tanke på at købe, før de så det.

Jeg kan forstå, at man går på loppetorv, hvis man søger efter noget, som ikke er i produktion mere. En bestemt lampe, en skål til et stel man har der hjemme, glas som skal suppleres op, et bestemt Anders And blad til samlingen og så videre.

Og dog - selv der kan jeg ikke rigtig forstå det. For det er så meget lettere at søge på nettet, og så kan man forhandle en pris - hvilket man ikke kan i de forretninger, som nu dukker op, fordi standene ikke er bemandede, men bare har en pris på varen, og så går man op og betaler de mennesker, der styrer systemet - som ikke har forhandlingsret.

Jeg kan godt forstå, at man køber legetøj, børnetøj og tøj til sig selv. Det giver god mening. Tingene er produceret, og de er ikke brugt op.

Men det er i bund og grund ikke en bid anderledes end at gå en enhver anden forretning - bortset fra at standene i disse loppetorvs-forretninger er fyldt med præcis de samme gamle ting, som vi selv har. Eller har haft. Plus en masse gammelt bras, der aldrig burde have været til salg, men skulle have været destrueret.

Så lad være med at gå der, hvis der ikke er noget specielt, du søger efter.

Jeg har en bekendt, der ikke fik julepynten ud af kælderen for et par år siden, fordi de havde købt så meget på loppetorv i løbet af året, så de ikke orkede at grave sig ind til pynten! Ting, som de "bare lige skal have peppet lidt op, så kan det bruges"! Jeg vil vædde ret meget på, at det aldrig kommer til at ske! Lad være med at falde i den fælde at påføre dig flere projekter, end du allerede har.

Husk - at hvis du går hjemmefra og ikke har behov for noget - så har du heller ikke behov for noget, når du står nede i shopping centeret eller på loppetorvet... og så hvorfor gå der hen?

Hvorfor ikke tage en tur ud i det grønne og nyde solskinnet? Eller en tur på museum, hvis det regner? En cykeltur? Eller noget andet, der ikke har noget med forbrug at gøre. Der er så mange andre muligheder for at bruge tiden bedre - end at købe, købe, købe. Nyt eller gammelt. Det gør ingen forskel!

Rigtig god weekend!

Det grønne pipler frem!

The little green buds are coming!

Now I will step on to thin ice and challenge a trend, which basically is good! Really good, actually!

Flea Markets!

It has lately become serious business here in Denmark. Earlier people would give their stuff to shops, which would sell it and donate the money for some good cause. Now it is shops, where private people rent a booth, which is looked after, and then they earn the money yourself. That's good, no problems.

What I don't really understand is, why it has become a pastime to go these places. That you would go without any other purpose than 'looking'. Because most people do a lot more than just look. They come home with something. Something they never would have thought of, before they saw it.

I can understand, that you go to a flea market, if you are searching for something, which isn't produced anymore. A specific lamp, a bowl from a dinner service you have at home, glasses which need supplements, a certain Donald Duck magazine for the collection ect.

And still - even there I cannot really understand it. Because it is so much easier to look at the internet, and then you can negotiate a price - which you cannot do in the shops, which are opening now, because the items at the booths have a price, and you just go and pay that price to the shop staff - who don't have permission to negotiate.

I can understand, that you buy toys, clothes and clothes for yourself. That gives good meaning. The items have already been produced, and they are not worn out.

But it is not a bit different than going to any other kind of shop - execpt that the booths at these flea market shops are filled with exactly the same old stuff, as we have ourselves at home. Or have had. Including a lot of rubbish, which never should have been put up for sale, but just be tossed.

So don't go, if you aren't looking for something specific.

I have an acquaintance, who didn't have any Christmas ornaments to decorate with a couple of years ago, becaue they had bought so much at flea markets during the year, that they couldn't bear to dig themselves through to the Christmas boxes! They had bought stuff, that they just had to "fix up a little to make them work"! I bet, that it is never going to happen. So don't go into the trap of giving yourself more projects, than you already have.

Remember - that if you leave home with no needs for anything - then you don't need anything, wether you are at the mall or at the flea market... so why go there?

Why not take a trip out in nature and enjoy the sun? Go to a museum, if it rains? Take a bike ride. Or something which hasn't anything to do with consumption. There are so many possibilities to spend time better - than to buy, buy, buy. New stuff or old. It makes not difference!

Have a great weekend!