VeeJay
7/1/2007, 09:53 AM
Went to breakfast, and was just driving around beautiful Fayetteville, NC. Pulled into a place called "Bragg Boulevard Flea Market." It's at the site of what looks to be a former Woolco or Howard Brothers department store.
I'm not a flea market kind of guy. My disdain for garage sale people has been chronicled here, viciously. But, I like to soak up the local culture wherever I'm at, whether or not I leave chortling, grimacing, or in need of a shower.
I've seldom seen such a mishmash of worthless junk in my life. There was lots of army stuff there - where'd they get all that stuff? Boots, uniforms, shoes, hats, ammo boxes, ready to eat rations, you name it. Lots of cheap framed art with bald eagles wrapped in patriotic ribbons in a partly cloudy sky background with slogans of God and Country. Then, the non-military stuff. Manual typewriters, 30 year old microwave ovens, kid's toys, watermelons, clothes (didn't check for armpit stains), I saw a box that I swear had over a hundred cell phone chargers. This was just the stuff piled up in the parking lot outside the store.
On the far left side was a store that had a large cross on top of it - I think it was being used today as a church because when I got closer I heard some good Southern preaching coming from a bullhorn. On the far right side of the old store was a Mexican shop (large Mexican flag draped across the entrance). Out front of the Mex store was a table with wrestling figurines and the largest box of knives I've ever seen. I scurried past that scene muy rapido.
In other thoughts, I watched "Cast Away" last night. It's the movie starring Tom Hanks about a FedEx plane crash in which Hanks is the only survivor and had to live on a deserted island. I thought what a cool movie it would have been if Paulie from The Soprano's were in that instead of Hanks.
I'm not a flea market kind of guy. My disdain for garage sale people has been chronicled here, viciously. But, I like to soak up the local culture wherever I'm at, whether or not I leave chortling, grimacing, or in need of a shower.
I've seldom seen such a mishmash of worthless junk in my life. There was lots of army stuff there - where'd they get all that stuff? Boots, uniforms, shoes, hats, ammo boxes, ready to eat rations, you name it. Lots of cheap framed art with bald eagles wrapped in patriotic ribbons in a partly cloudy sky background with slogans of God and Country. Then, the non-military stuff. Manual typewriters, 30 year old microwave ovens, kid's toys, watermelons, clothes (didn't check for armpit stains), I saw a box that I swear had over a hundred cell phone chargers. This was just the stuff piled up in the parking lot outside the store.
On the far left side was a store that had a large cross on top of it - I think it was being used today as a church because when I got closer I heard some good Southern preaching coming from a bullhorn. On the far right side of the old store was a Mexican shop (large Mexican flag draped across the entrance). Out front of the Mex store was a table with wrestling figurines and the largest box of knives I've ever seen. I scurried past that scene muy rapido.
In other thoughts, I watched "Cast Away" last night. It's the movie starring Tom Hanks about a FedEx plane crash in which Hanks is the only survivor and had to live on a deserted island. I thought what a cool movie it would have been if Paulie from The Soprano's were in that instead of Hanks.