A Bloody Long Post - Part Two

So, the Garage Sale@64 Mount Sinai Avenue was unexpectedly extended till Sunday. That means I had to miss out on the Kent Ridge Park Recce, as well as my college mate James' baby shower. Well, I am actually fine with missing out on the latter because I am never the sort who goes gaga over babies. When everybody is cooing and passing the poor baby around, I will be like - uh, please don't pass it over here, thanks.

Sunday's Garage Sale was pretty lonely for me because Sandy and Jane had other agenda. Fortunately, Samantha appeared early in the morning to help me out. Shuling and Sandy chipped in too, before they have to attend the baby shower.

Anyway, I must say the Garage Sale was a very interesting experience because I get to interact with a wide assortment of people. Firstly, there was this really talkative old lady who came on both days.

Here is Sandy entertaining her on the first day.


I could actually sense Sandy's exasperation. None of us could understand the lady's fast paced Cantonese except Sandy. Ho ho. Each time I passed Sandy, she gave me an exasperated expression.

The old lady bought two shelves, a seat and an avalanche of clothes on Saturday, and returned with her entourage of daughter-in-law and two grandsons on Sunday. She went around my house, sniffing for things to buy, even to my backyard. She removed all the contents on the table and proceeded to examine all the furniture. In fact, she even tried to purchase my laundry basket and ironing board. It was really bizarre.

When she took clothes to the fitting room to try, she was excitable to see two lugguages that we have stored there and tried to persuade me to sell them. Gosh. In fact, they stayed around the house for a good three hours.

Fortunately, her two grandsons are pretty cheeky and cute, so it made their stay more tolerable.




Samantha and I attempted the impossible feat of lugging a 2-meter shelf from upstairs for the old lady. I think it is incredible I made it out alive. Halfway through the impossible task, I was trapped under the shelf twice and I thought my collar bone was going to be crushed. It was weird that in times of such adversity, I found the whole situation to be hilarious and kept guffawing away. Can I just say laughing is hazardous when doing labor work?

Oh, the biggest item sale I made was when this antique guy came along and asked me if I have any old alcohol for sale. I opened the cabinet and wala! A collection of old cognac.


Apparently, brands like Martell have investment value. Each Cordon Bleu fetch 250 buckeroos. I sold the entire collection of cognac for almost 800 bucks. In the process, I also learnt quite alot from the friendly uncle about these liquor. Pretty damn cool, huh?

Oh, and the second doggy visitor of the day (apart from Heidi) came in the form of a shy little jack russell called Sheila. Vivien had brought her along, together with Anderson, to check the used furniture out.


It is funny hearing Anderson narrating her anecdotes. They each carted some stuff off and I am praying the Dell wireless keyboard that Anderson bought works just fine. Hmm.

I think one of the most humbling experience is interacting with the domestic workers who dropped in to sniff for deals. Filipino maids are generally more fortunate than the Indonesian ones in that they get off-days on Sundays. Most of the Filipino maids came in and purchased electronic appliances to be sent home to their loved ones. Most of them also try to buy clothes for their children back home. I guess it is hard to reject their bargaining, especially when their dollar is very much hard earned. I mean, I am comparing this to a man who drove a huge luxury car, stopping at the garage sale and trying to slash the price of an office chair to 10 bucks.

And then, there was this domestic worker whom I always see around the neighborhood, walking two dogs. She loitered outside the premises, not daring to enter until I invited her in and told her to feel free to let the dogs roam in the garden.

You can almost see the immediate glee on her face as she excitably went and rummaged around the contents as I looked after her two dogs, Goldie and Hunter.


Goldie is such a sweeeeeetie!




She requested for permission to lug goods for her friend who stays behind my house to see because her friend's employer has refused her permission to even walk to the my house for a little shopping. Tsk. I mean, just exactly how sad is this? It is just gonna take 15 minutes, isn't it?

Anyway, she and her friend picked quite a bargains and she finally left with the dogs, happily I hope.

Well, 'tis quite an eye opener.