We thought it might be more interesting if we bought some furniture for mightysmall mansion from somewhere other than IKEA. (Much as we love our bookshelves and desks).
So it seemed like the perfect excuse to go rummaging around Edinburgh's antique shops, auction houses and architectural salvage yards. So far we've bought an old 9-foot long, padded bench that must have come from a church or perhaps a law court. We’ve got a 40's bentwood coat-stand. And a fantastic 10-foot long custom-made table (not custom-made for us by the way, but for the original owners, a rich family from Regent Terrace).
But for me personally, the strangest and most unusual find is this poster. It’s an original Daily Express newspaper poster advertising an offshore powerboat race in Dorset. (So this poster will only have run in Dorset.) How it made its way to an antique shop in Edinburgh I really don't know. But what makes it remarkable for me is the fact that this event took place in August 1961.Now I was born in 1961.In Dorset. And the race that year (as it did for many years) went right past my house in Weymouth. And every year my family never missed the race. Including 1961.Which means this was the first powerboat race I ever attended.
At the tender age of 12 weeks. Can't remember who won,sorry.