Tuesday 31 March 2009

If it’s Tuesday....

When I was looking to move here to Lynn, I thought it pretty cool that they had a place called “Tuesday Market Place”, where they held a market every Tuesday!! Well, what else would it be called? History tells us it was once a huge affair, but nowadays the market stalls only take up about a quarter of the available space in the Market Place.

This Tuesday it’s a sunny spring morning as I walked over to High Street, which is bustling with people shopping and meeting each other. There are also people trying to stop you to sign up for a “good cause”, and there is one of our regular street artists singing his repertoire of pop classics, accompanied by his guitar.

Then I emerge into Tuesday Market Place, and the first sign I see is one offering to buy “scrap gold” - which always seems odd to me - who is it that scraps gold? I go past this and the stall selling underwear and similar items, and then come to a van selling bacon products. I buy a couple of gammon joints from him, which are certainly cheaper than the supermarkets. There are a couple, sometimes 3 or 4 vegetable sellers in the market, but I have my favourite, who sets up in the corner of the market next to The Globe, so I go there next.

This is actually a number of stalls put together, and he sells everything from locally produced veg., to exotic fruits that I’ve never previously heard of. When I first started going to the market, he had cabbages on offer at 2 for £1.20 - I eat a lot of greens, but I asked him how long they would stay fresh. He told me that they’d be good for at least a couple of weeks in the fridge, as they only came out of the field the day before - short of growing them myself, it’s difficult to see how I could get fresher than that! On another occasion - a wet and windy November day, as I paid I was thanked for coming out in the weather to buy at his stall - very good customer service!

Today I get a couple of cabbages, a melon, ginger and garlic, and that’s about all I need for the rest of the week. Then I go to the next stall which is also a regular. This place sells packaged and tinned foods cheaply, and what it has changes from week to week. I’ve previously got things like tins of olives where the labels are torn, dried peppers, stock cubes and other random items. Today, they have their normal selection of cakes and sweets, but nothing that I need so after checking that out, I move on to the next row of stalls.

The second row is more changeable, although there are still a few places you see from week to week. There is a big garden equipment and hardware place, and I stop to look at the solar powered garden lights. They have some in the form of rocks, and I wonder about getting a couple for my patio garden. The stall holder sees me looking and comes to chat, but in the end I decide to leave these for now. Going past other pitches selling ink cartridges, Goth clothing, shirts and jumpers, bedding, more fruit and veg, and mobility scooters, I come to the fish stand which is normally a feature at the end of the second row. I stop and look, but decide against fish at the moment, although the locally caught dressed crap does look appealing.

Rounding the corner past the hot snacks van, I start down the third row, and first there is another place I wanted to look at, the plant seller. They have masses of flowers, tubas and bulbs, but no tomatoes plants, which is what I was interested in. I almost buy some seedling lettuce, but as I wasn't sure where I’d plant them, I decided against. Walking along I come to a stall I’d not seen before selling things like chocolate covered nuts, Turkish delight and olives - I love fresh olives, so I buy some to have in my salad tonight.
Coming back again along the second row, I stop to look at the clothes place - not the Goth one! - and have a look at what he has in the way of men’s shirts. I end up being sold 3 buttoned short sleeved cotton shirts for £5 - another bargain, and another bag to carry.

So with my carrier bags I wend my way back through the market, down the High Street and home. It may not be as big as it was in olden days, but it’s still a vibrant part of the community, and a delight to shop at. The supermarkets may offer a wider range of products, and be more predictable, but Tuesday Market is a great shopping experience, and the best place to get fresh local produce.

So if it’s Tuesday, it must be Tuesday Market Place.

No comments:

Post a Comment