One person's trash, might be treasure! 🦉

This weekend my uncle and cousin came down to visit, and the house instantly filled with that lovely, cozy kind of chaos that only family brings. My cousin isn’t technically “little” anymore, but she’ll always feel that way to me. I still see her as 9 years old, and super weird. She’s studying criminology at Swansea at the moment, so naturally we spent half the weekend discussing unhinged case theories and laughing at things that probably shouldn’t be funny. She’s got this incredibly dry, whip-smart sense of humour that feels like a family trait… which is charming and... Possibly slightly worrying in equal measure. 

Now, in the spirit of weird family traditions...

We played the game. It's a family tradition. 
The rules are simple: 
* Budget of £5
* 1 hour max in each shop. (though honestly nowadays it's a sweep browse and that's it!)
*Bring back the ✨Boujiest ✨ thing you can find. Like : 
"Rob the joint, stolen from a country-manor, what in the Lara Croft is that?" kind of boujie.... essentially it's Bargain Hunt/ the Hunger Games. 
A battle-royale of antiques. 

Obviously the most expensive thing to be found, wins... 

My uncle S wins every time. Every. Time. He’s the family ceramic oracle, genuinely. If he strides out of a shop holding a vase, the rest of us may as well surrender. You're cooked... 
He’s essentially a walking Antiques Roadshow. Ask him about ceramics and he’ll give you a lecture worthy of a minor museum. If he emerges from a shop clutching a vase, the rest of us might as well pack up and go home. His knowledge of ceramics, design, and twentieth-century manufacturing borders on curatorial. Watching him scan a cluttered shelf is like watching a historian read tea leaves. 

This time, in 10 seconds flat he strolled out carrying a stunning glassware vase. 
"I've got mine... It's GORGEOUS!" 
The princely sum of £2.50 was paid... 

Mum found a glass bowl for £2, which she immediately declared perfect for candles. Priceless.
The marbling is really strange, I see why she would tbf.. 

I found nothing until... The Gods intervened... 
Perched on a shelf like she’d been waiting for me all along: a ten-inch alabaster statuette of Athena. Given that I’ve been locked in reading  classical theory essays lately, walking past her felt like asking for lightning strikes.



So obviously I brought her home. £3. A bargain. A blessing. A warning, possibly.
No one ignores Athena... 

*Drumroll* 

Results for the finds... 

1. Uncle S.... That vase was £80-100 depending on who you buy that from... and also condition matters, his glassware was immaculate... 
2. Mine... Athena is Alabaster carved, and hefty... a weapon in many ways... but money wise.. 
Maybe £40? Maybe £100 depending on who you buy from.... 
3. Mum's weird glass pot... a tenner.. thing is though, aesthetic joy, is priceless... and tis the season to set little fires in your house and keep them like pets! 

About Athena.. would I sell her? No... Finding her was too spooky.. I honestly think she found ME... 



She’s now sitting proudly on my bookshelf next to my ever-growing stack of Very. Serious. Books. I'd stumbled on picked up a legit academic textbook (always a win) and a tiny Everyman edition of The Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire, because nothing says “romantic weekend reading material” like imperial collapse. 

Speaking of romantic collapse, and stumbling... 





I'm about to share the most trash-fire of social interactions here... 

I got hit on by the girl behind the counter. And I? Short-circuited.

It went something like this:

Her: “Do you want a bag for the books?”
Me: “Yes please… how much are they?”
Her: “It’s raining… maybe stay in here until it stops?”
Me: “Good idea. I might find something else.”
Her: giggles “Yeah… you might…”
Me: “Right but… how much are they?”


juicy finds.. the ones on the left and right were the ones I am referring to..
Who needs a handbag when these are the perfect accessories right girls? 😭


We then discovered she didn’t actually know the price. Of anything. Including why I wasn’t already carrying the books around like a wandering academic. Casually walking around with a Blackwell Publishing textbook on Archaeological Theory... (Introductionary level" around town... for fun... in the pissing rain? Girl, why? 
I'm sure it was a reach, and she just didn't want to admit she didn't know how much they cost... I didn't even know English language at that point, I was too confused. 
Following up "WHY?" when someone is hitting on you, isn't really socially accepted.. 
I tend to do it, but it's definitely not acceptable. There is not acceptable way though to say: "I'd prefer it if you were like, a scary, authoritative femme half my size and triple my intellect... and like, threw some sardonic humour my way... so I can volley it back... Cause I'm lowkey a cutesie submissive"

An old man in the queue refused to cut ahead, perhaps out of respect for sapphic awkwardness in its raw, unedited form... I had to hurry it along myself. 
I could feel his eyes boring into the back of my head like...👀

Her: "It's raining.. still"
Me: "You're clingy... and VERY socially awkward. "
Her: "They weren't your books to START WITH?" 
Me: "Honey, this is a Blackwell textbook. I wouldn't walk around with such a thing... especially not in the pissing rain... " 
Her: "hahaha. yeah... Also it's... really wet.... outside.. " 

bruh.... 





In the end, I paid £2 for both books. Not because that was the price, but because I really, really needed it to stop! haha

Did I ask for her number?
No. Obviously not. Did I give mine? No. Did I have business cards on me?. Yes. 
My brain turned into wet tissue paper the second she giggled. I was mostly puzzled... 
girl, why? People really do hit on you when you least expect it am I right? 

Athena is disappointed in me. Aphrodite probably rolled her eyes.

I am mortified, Mum saw the entire thing play out, and was just... shocked it went that badly when it was going so well to start off with?... I seem to have that effect on people, what can I say? haha 

Just a brief moment of sweetness suspended between two strangers in a charity shop on a rainy afternoon..... 

Awks... 

Where Athena Rests Now...




Athena looks at home on the shelf, surrounded by spines and stories. She isn’t the most expensive find of the day, but she’s the one that feels the most aligned. She's either motivating me from where I sit, or quietly throwing shade, maybe even both tbf...   
But as a Goddess of Wisdom, it felt like the right place to honour her... 
Here's what I learnt this weekend... 

Sometimes an object finds you.
Sometimes it asks you to keep pushing yourself, and sharpening your mind... 
Sometimes it mirrors a part of you you’ve forgotten to honour.
Sometimes it reminds you that 

This weekend was full of those moments: found treasures, soft laughter, unexpected connections, and the gentle reminder that the most meaningful things rarely announce themselves.

They’re simply waiting on a shelf, quietly asking to be seen. ✨



- Clare Alexandra 









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