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LANDLADY Key moments
O
ne of the bugbears of being a landlady is keeping control of those pesky little things called keys. As you can imagine, I have a collection of keys that would rival the head Warden at Parkhurst, although most of them are now obsolete. I have no way of knowing which ones work where, without trying them all out. As well as my own keys, I have, in mysteriously coded envelopes, the spare keys of many friends, who've since died, emigrated or at least changed their locks several times since they foolishly nominated me as their spare key lady. In the event of them ever needing their spare keys, I would probably be abroad, so unless they had a spare key to my house, they wouldn't be able to get them anyway. Mind you, the other day while I was at work, The Big Daughter returned home to find the rather crestfallen son of my downstairs tenant sitting on the doorstep. His mother was away, he was supposed to be flat sitting, and he'd locked his keys in her flat, thus dooming himself to live on the doorstep for the next five days. The Big Daughter suggested that surely I would have a spare key to the flat (she's inherited
my propensity for optimism) then ran upstairs, where she was confronted by my extensive key museum hanging on the wall outside the kitchen. She returned with two handfuls of keys, and invited my tenant's son to start trying them all out while she went to fetch further examples. As it goes, and amazing though it sounds, the first key they tried was the one to the tenant's front door. What are the chances of that? (Well, about 100 to one, being as you asked).
“ He'd locked his keys in her flat, thus dooming himself to live on the doorstep for the next five days ”
I'm not always so lucky though.... When I was in Turkey last September, I left my entire bunch of UK keys in my Turkish house. On it was my house key, bike lock key and the front door keys to every communal hallway I clean. I am therefore resigned to sitting on various East Sussex doorsteps with my Hoover until someone lets me in, which is not my ideal way of spending my afternoons. I'll get my my keys back from Turkey in April... as long as I can find the keys to my Turkish house, that is.
NOW & THEN Andy Garth: Bumper Auction
I
t’s unbelievable that we are nearly at March, which means the first Auction of the year for the dynamic duo of Brighton and Hove Stuff and Step Back in Time (or as we know him, Robert the Postcard man in Queens Road). I say “dynamic” in a self deprecating way as when you get to our age, the lighter the auction item, the better!
“ It was a fine example of
how shopping was in the old days ”
Well it seems my constant barracking for the unusual asked for in this here column is starting to pay dividends, as we have over 300 lots for the sale on Tuesday 28th March at the Aldrington Church Hall Glebe Villas Hove (with viewing at 6.30pm with a start time of approx 8pm). So over the next few weeks I will hopefully be presenting a selection of the
gems that can be had. This week we have an immaculate original pamphlet for the opening of the brand new Co Op on London Road Brighton in 1931. It is a lovely piece of ephemera, with some colour and photos of the externals and internals of the new super store, which was closed in 2007 and sold everything imaginable. It is probably missed in the area as it was a fine example of how shopping was in the old days (sorry to sound like my Nan but sometimes the “Old Days” were better). The other item is a rare hand written conveyance deed for a strip of land next to Hanover Crescent from 1823, from before the Crescent was built but does show the Alms Houses (recently defaced). It also has the signature of one of Brighton’s major developers, and in my opinion a “founding father” of where we are today: Thomas Kemp, who was instrumental in so much of the buildings across Brighton and Hove in the early 19th Century. It’s a oneoff item and I expect lots of interest, but both lots shown today have a guide price of £20 each.
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If you wish to receive a copy of the catalogue when ready by email or by post email me at Brightonandhovestuff@gmail.com Or pop in the shop at 28 Western Road Hove.
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