Lawn Sale

I had a lawn sale this morning. For those of you who live elsewhere in Australia, that's a garage sale. For those who live in parts of the world where that is an unknown concept the idea is that you clean out your house and shed, finding items you no longer need or want, place them in your garage or on your lawn on a saturday morning and strangers come around and buy them from you.
It's a strange idea, but one that I love.
There were a few benefits to doing this for me:
I got rid of some stuff that had been hanging around since I moved into my house
I made a bit of extra cash
I got to experience the crazy world of the lawn sale
I have basically decided there are three types of lawn salers:

1. Hard core - these people have week's that revolve around their lawn sales. They read the paper with a fine tooth comb on a Friday to examine exactly how many lawn sales are on offer the following morning and they chart a course between them that will maximise the bargains they desire. They are the ones who turn up before the advertised starting time in the hope that they will beat or undercut all of the other hare core salers. They offer you advice on how a lawn sale really should be run and they spend a maximum of 5 minutes on your lawn before they are off to their next appointment. many of them carry around a tin containing a quantity of coins and small notes specifically ear marked for lawn sale purchases. I got paid $10 for something this morning all in 10c and 20c pieces!

2. The specific purpose lawn salers - these people come in search of a specific item or object. They come in and scan what's on offer. If they see the item they want they grab it, if not they ask directly. Often they will see the item they were seeking with a SOLD sign already written on it and look at you pleadingly, hoping you will go back on your agreement with the previous purchaser and do them a deal instead.The specific items asked for this morning were most furniture - shelves, chests of drawers, wardrobes, beds ad mattresses. But i also had a surprising number of requests for pot plants. I'm thinking of doing some propagating before my next lawn sale!

3. The lazy bones - these are the johnny-come-lately lawn salers who have good intentions about going lawn saling on a Saturday morning and then have a big night on Friday night and decide that a sleep in is more important than bargains. They still go out and do over the lawn sales but not until about 3 hours after everyone else has swept through. When they arrive they ask sheepishly "Is this all that's left?" "Yes" you reply and they smirk and shrug their shoulders. "It's our own fault I suppose. maybe we'll try to get up earlier next Saturday!"