[intro sounds]
Hello!
-Hello!
Who is it?
It's Stuart mate.
Stuart Ashen.
-Oh, sorry Stuart.
I couldn't quite see you.
How can I help?
Yeah, I've had a word with the guys upstairs.
-Sorry?
What?
I said I've had a word with the guys upstairs.
-No, sorry mate.
There's something blocking the sound.
PETER.
YOU'VE GOT TO STOP BRINGING SO MUCH SH*T INTO THIS PLACE.
YOU'VE GOT TO STOP BRINGING IN NEW ITEMS.
IT'S GONNA GO THROUGH THE FLOOR!
-I'm sorry?
What did you say?
I'm just saying, you've got too many items in the office Peter.
There's no room to walk, or breathe anymore.
-I don't think I NEED this kind of negativity Stuart.
Especially not when thrifting season is upon us!
Look, I'm just saying, you need to reign it in a little bit, before we all die.
Yeah?
-REIGN IT IN?
You want me to reign it in?!
Mate this stuff does not stack itself up.
If I don't do it, who else is gonna look after this?
The bloody Queen??
-Now if you'll excuse me, I have, some thrifting to do.
AND WE'RE BRITISH.
WE DON'T EVEN CALL IT THRIFTING.
YOU JUST STOLE THAT FROM LGR.
-Whatever Stuart.
Whatever.
*door slams*
F*cking d*ckhead.
[Jazz music]
It's the start of car boot season, so that's where we're headed.
First up is the late sale in Aylsham - my kind of car boot - mainly because it starts
at the later than usual time of 11am.
Unfortunately I rocked up at about 12.30, just after a flash hail storm, so everyone
was packing up.
But there were still some things to see.
For those unfamiliar with the term car boot sale, it's basically a market, in a field,
where the traders are just normal folks, usually clearing out their attics.
You simply pull up on the field in rows, and empty whatever you've brought in your car
onto a table or sheet.
So you get a very mixed bag.
Mostly it's a lot of crap, but the odd item stands out.
Oooo.
Game of Life.
These Mega Drive games obviously caught my eye.
The guy wanted £5 each for them, or £50 for the entire box.
Most of them are loose, so that's a tad steep, but the Genesis version of Rolo to the Rescue
excited me.
These little Gameboy watches are interesting, although not really my thing.
Underneath the table however, Escape from Colditz Castle.
Yes please.
He wanted a tenner, so I gave him a tenner, on the condition he included Rolo as well.
These old metal Warhammer figurines sell quite well on eBay.
So much better than the modern plastic variants.
I remember a big thing about getting lead poisoning from these in the 80s and 90s.
Ahhh, what fun we had.
Oooo, some Mercury speakers.
Nice, but I already have that exact pair.
Nice celery jar down there.
I don't think I've ever seen anyone store their celery in a jar like that.
What a world.
Check out this old Black & Decker Hover Mower.
I swear I find the strangest things nostalgic.
Couple of air rifles around the corner, but what's that behind them...
ahhhh yes, some CPU cooling fans.
Understandable to protect them with bullets.
Now these hands I remember everywhere in the 90s.
Half the crowd in WWF matches and even Gladiators seemed to have them.
But this one is a Norwich City one, so it holds no interest.
Further along I found this 1950s Meccano set.
Now that's a thing of beauty.
I wonder how many minds have been captured by this over the years.
Also some funky Scalextric cars.
Including some of the early mini coopers.
My brother had this track set, back when Scalextric used the dangerous 13v power supplies.
Crazy times.
Another couple of boxed sets here.
Matchbox this time.
Pretty cool, but I don't have much use for them.
Onto the last isle and I spyed a gaming stall.
There are usually quite a few of these, selling the standard Xbox and Playstation jewel case
games.
They don't really appeal to me, unless there's something specific I'm after.
But there were some more interesting items on the sheet.
Cool Spot for the SNES and a few N64 games there.
Interesting, but loose games don't often appeal, unless they're incredibly rare.
Don't need any of those controllers either, so with pretty much everyone packed up, I
guess it's onto the next sale.
Ahhhh, the morning.
The blissfulness of an early morning.
The sun up.
The fresh wind in your face.
All at 7am in the morning.
7AM.
WHO THE HELL GETS UP AT 7AM TO DO A CAR BOOT SALE?!!
Well, apparently I do.
Here we are at 7.30, fresh for Arminghall car boot sale.
Let's hope it's worth it.
There's a Windows '95 for Dummies book.
I guess that counts as a good start.
Across the way there was a table of Beano annuals.
I loved reading the Beano and Dandy back when I was a wee nipper.
Great comics.
Some more game stalls, although this one had some interesting nik-naks as well.
A Sony mobile phone from the noughties.
The very same I had and was amazed it could run Doom actually.
Nice Wii pad behind it as well, always useful.
I managed to haggle a whole POUND off the price and get these both for £7.
Should proove useful.
I always forget how bulky the original Nintendo DS was.
Dare I say it, it's almost got a retro feel to it.
No, it can't be, it's too soon.
I'll leave it among these Xbox One games where it belongs.
Star wars masks.
Interesting.
It always blows my mind that the famous line "Luke, I am your father" was actually "No,
I am your father" in the film.
I blame the Mandela effect.
Some modernish games down there, and then all these figures.
What are they?
Amiboo or something?
Ahhh, a stall selling video cassettes.
Now that's my kind of stall.
Although I'm not interested in the actual boxed films.
Just the blank cassettes, containing recorded films.
Amusing that they're trying to sell these, but you can't beat the artwork on these blank
tape boxes.
Phwooooar, look at that!
You can find everything at these places.
You can complete the inevitable joke yourselves.
Look, there's another Game of Life, lonely on a sheet.
Now where have I seen that recently?
MONKEY.
It's a MONKEY.
Well, it's an Orangutan.
That's King Louie isn't it?
You always get lots of these original Xbox 360s.
They always fill me with fear, given their Red Ring of Death feature.
Nice typewriter though.
I'd have that if I didn't already have too many.
Ooooo, a Playboooox annual.
Yes, Playbox.
I like to think this is how that other similar seedy magazine started out, before it lost
its way.
Anyway, what I'm here for is this Japanese fruit machine.
Look at that.
That's something special.
The chap said it cost £150 to import alone, but yet he only wanted £80 for it.
Tempting, but I have no where to put it, so...
ONWARDS!
Check out this portable 5.5" caravan TV.
I used to play my Master System on something not too dissimilar.
You certainly didn't worry about the limited resolution in those days.
What I'm over here for really though is that Petite Police Control centre.
Yessss, I love this old Petite kids stuff.
Round the corner, there's some original Xbox games, mixed in with some other platforms.
None that took my fancy though.
But a bit further on, next to these Rupert the Bear annuals, I spyed one of my favourite
game boxes.
SPACE CRUSADE for the Commodore 64.
Oh yes.
Can't really pass that up for a quid.
I did however, pass up on the Michael Jackson Top Trumps.
I imagine their limited initial value has depreciated even further.
Plus I'd hate to think what the scoring categories are.
And so, Arminghall car boot was at an end.
Not a great one.
Probably not worth getting up so early for, but at least I got a few items and I can spend
the rest of the day walking around like a zombie... along with writing this script.
Let's try a few charity shops and call it a day.
Ok, so first up is a shop right next to my office, I happened to walk past and spy an
M64 TNT2 graphics card in the window, which spiked my curiosity.
These cards are from around 1999, and could be useful for a future build.
Inside, I found a pile of Beano comics, which for £5, I couldn't pass up.
I mean, I like them, but I'm gonna give these to my son, because he loves them.
At the back of the store, up some steps, is the inevitable jewel case section.
Not many games here which take my eye, although I do have a soft spot for Duke Nukem Forever.
This game gets a lot of stick, even now, but I actually quite enjoy it.
I mean, its unmistakably Duke Nukem.
What more do you need??
Mmmm, a Next Massage Kit.
Oohh yeah.
Anyway, I went back and grabbed that video card, which for a fiver, seems like a bargain.
Onto the next shop.
The PDSA shop had a lovely Diana plate, carefully positioned behind this mouse, and also a load
of board games.
Bullseye caught my eye for a couple of quid.
As did this Nikko Screw Driver radio controller car.
Look at that!
This was from the early 90s, an era when radio controlled cars were battling to outdo each
other.
Hence we get one with two swirling corkscrews
Beautiful stuff. Worth a few quid ANYDAY.
Now this was a flying visit to the relate charity shop on Queen's Road.
I didn't expect to find, and in a sense, I really didn't.
Because my prize was the Pop Idol "Talent Box" for IBM PC and compatibles.
Pop Idol was the original X-Factor, if you will, and this was the software released for it
so that should be interesting at the very least,
OK, now my last visit, which was actually from a few weeks back, was at Magdalen Street
in Norwich.
Pretty much the only street you'll find a stationery shop selling a 486, dot matrix
printer and Fax machine like it's modern day technology.
My friend Michael spyed it as he passed on a bus, and I was down there quicker than a
toilet stop in rattle snake country.
The lovely chap in the shop was clearing out all the stock, and it happened to include
the technology he was using to run the place.
So I picked up the PC, fax machine and Panasonic KXP-1124 printer for about £70, including
a brand new & indeed, fresh, ink cartridge.
Which I was more than happy with.
These dot matrix printers fetch a bob or two on eBay alone.
and I'm quite taken by that ICL monitor and keyboard. It makes a nice contrast with the Dell base unit.
What a day.
What a deal.
Back to the office!
[sweet sweet jazz]
You still here?
*mutters under breath*
*crashing of boxes*
So here we are, a successful start of a new thrifting season.
The total spend this time was £40, which isn't too bad considering some of the items.
That Pop Idol thing makes me curious if nothing else.
Plus look at that kids face.
He knows how incredible that Police Control Centre is.
He's probably on the phone, trying to order 12 more.
What a hero.
I did grab the Screwdriver radio controlled car, and the Bullseye board game.
But they're on a shelf, and what goes on the shelf can only come off the shelf for significant
reasons.
I also grabbed those Beano annuals and comics, but they don't make up this part of the haul,
because they're now owned by a small child.
I'm looking forward to getting stuck in with this Dell Optiplex.
There's a spanking Intel 486DX2/66 under the hood, and at least 8MB of memory.
This is a machine from the golden era of DOS gaming, and what fun I'm sure we'll have.
Plus I can take a peek at the accounts for that old shop.
The fax machine isn't currently here as I've lent it out for the upcoming film Ashen's
and the Polybius Heist, BUT that Panasonic KXP-1124.
What a thing of beauty.
So, all in all 100% successful trip.
Well, apart from the fact that Space Crusade actually contains some demo tapes.
BUT, I did check this at the car boot, and decided to buy anyway, as I've no doubt got
a loose Space Crusade tape knocking around somewhere.
So.
Onwards and upwards.
That's the mantra of this new season.
Let's just hope the floor doesn't collapse.
Thank you for watching and have a great evening.
[Translating these subtitles?
Please put your name here!]