The Little World

As scale modellers we are especial creatures – half way between stuffed Winnie The Pooh figures and blood-crazed werewolves. The staff in many stores recognise this and probably have contingent plans ready in case the moon is full.

I know I have found myself staring lustfully at items in shops that would seem to have no connection to normal behaviour – the craft sections of fabric places is a case in point. The old days in a fabric shop were pretty dull – God knows my mother took me into enough of the wretched places as a kid. There was calico, cotton sheeting, and bolts of things with flowers on it. Nearly everything was beige – this was the 50’s – and it was like being adrift in a sea of ennui. And there was always the dread of other kids seeing you in there stuck holding Mom’s purse…

Nowadays I hold my own purse, and tightly, too. I need my money for the hare-brained ideas I have and modern fabric stores have more hare than you’d think. Plastic fittings, metal tools, accessories, mottled camo fabric, wooden boxes and mouldings, paper and cardboard sheets in all sorts of useful thicknesses. I can happily browse the aisles even when I am surrounded by embarrassed kids holding their mom’s purses.

Hardware stores? Oh, to think that I was once bored in a hardware store. Given the fact that our Local Bunnings seems to have a permanent sausage sizzle out the front and clean toilets at the back, as well as lounge furniture and hammocks on display, it surprising that the staff have not had to drive me out at closing time with a fire hose. It’s the kind of place that I get homesick for when I’m sitting at home…

Of course toy stores and model shops are an entire level of attraction on their own – but oddly enough they are premises where I seem to be most focused. If I know what I need, I go to see it instantly, and sometimes buy only that. You’d expect to see me wandering like a zombie, but the subject is logical and I treat it as such. Even a fistful of gift vouchers did not send me into a frenzy – they were parcelled out and used conservatively to get the right tools and paints.

Book shops are the place for long browsing visits. New books on hobby subjects are almost always expensive,  and useful secondhand ones are nearly always scarce. But the hunt is the thrill, even if the bag can be light. And every now and then a trophy tome wanders by. It is worthwhile conserving money for that opportunity.

Of other shops and stores in the city I remain somewhat ignorant. My clothing purchases are done with the same repugnance that Porthos used to feel. I visit the Apple shop with trepidation – I am so ignorant about computers and the young people know it and I know that they know…it is only their politeness that saves the situation. Shoes, travel, telephones, music, and many other subjects are rarely ever approached. I have enough bric a brac to equip an army and never buy more – indeed I fend it off from my studio now.

But the finest thing I can say about most shops is that they are not beige anymore. Neither, unfortunately, are their prices.

Note: I have visited ” collectibles ” shops in several cities and find them fascinating. The staff never seem downhearted no matter how unsalable their goods are.