A town called Allassac

Just off the A20, fairly close to Brive, is a very appealing town called Allassac. I'd never been there before, but there was a vide grenier, and you know how I feel about vide greniers. Allassac is quite a big town, and literally all of its streets were lined with stalls containing a selection of wonders. It's the best vide grenier I've attended so far. So many of the stallholders were selling items of a really good quality, and there was an enormous range of stuff for sale. Stallholders are always happy to haggle, and you can acquire some fabulous things cheaply. There were so many things that I fancied buying, but I only had one big bag, and I filled that up in the first ten minutes, so I had to walk on by. I seriously considered buying a second-hand pushchair to enable more purchases. I did buy a small table, and carried it with my body between its legs. It gave me somewhere to put my bags when we stopped for lunch. Next year, I'm bringing a wheelbarrow.

Thursday, the day of the vide grenier, was a bank holiday in France, so the streets were full of people of all ages, bustling amicably in the heat of a glorious day. My friends and I commented on the happy atmosphere, and, unlike at these sort of events in Britain, there was no tinny music hammering out anywhere, just the gentle buzz of voices, laughing and birdsong. It really was a perfect day; a blue sky day...

Having to use a stick for support didn't stop this man from making a tour of the streets... I have it on good authority that he's there every year.