Bargains and gardens..

I ran puffing and panting into the home of my last client for the day on Wednesday afternoon, apologising for being late. She just smiled at me; she knows that if I don't turn up or ring her more than 15 minutes later than my due time, there would be something to worry about. "I have been shopping for my winter wardrobe", I told her. "It took a bit longer than what I expected. I tried on about 10 pairs of slacks, and half a dozen jumpers. Ended up with 4 pairs of pants and 3 jumpers, all for $40."
"What??"
"Oh - forgot to say, I went to Savers!" Savers is one of the biggest op-shops (thrift shops to our overseas readers) in Melbourne, and I get most of my clothes there these days, excepting shoes and underwear that is! They don't have much in the way of linen though - I am obviously not the only one who looks for hand embroidered goods, and I suspect that what they may get donated is possibly held aside for certain buyers. I know people who work in op-shops get very cross when they hear that said, but a place that gets as much donated as Savers, would surely get a heap of linen along with everything else, but you never see it there.

But I don't have to worry about it - I have some very kind friends who look out for me, as well as some of my homecare clients. With most of them being elderly, they generally have some of their own work lying around, and sometimes give me items that they insist their family doesn't want. In that case, I consider myself the 'guardian' of their linen, and would cheerfully hand it back to the family if they wanted it. One lady showed me some of hers yesterday (she is keeping it) and she said her sister has a stack of old linen that was stitched by their mother and aunties many years ago. The sister was going to put it all out in a garage sale next week, but my Client remembered me and stopped her! She is going to get it all from her sister and show it to me next time I am there (in a fortnight), and if I want any of it, I can have first pick before she turfs it out - WOW! Hey, it might come to nothing - I don't collect whitework (I already have a lot), or crocheted items, and some people only have those kind of things in their linen cupboards. Still, it is lovely that people think of me when the subject of old linen comes up; I guess it is partly because I treat my clients as friends, not just a house to clean. This lady lives only a street away from us, and I have invited her to morning tea one day soon, as she is keen to see our renovated back yard.

Which reminds me - our Landscape bloke came today and made a start on the front yard. We now have a nice (instant) lawn out there, which Ken immediately fenced off as soon as he got home from work! Just with stakes and string, but he said he doesn't want anybody coming up the driveway and on to the lawn area like they used to. Not everyone does that, but our driveway is a bit steep, and if our visitors don't trust the brakes on their car, they tend to park on the lawn area because it is level. Well, NO MORE! (what about me though, Ken - my brakes aren't too crash hot....NO!)