Crate

On the pavement in Main Road Woodstock yesterday, I spotted a crate. Getting a crate has been on my list for a while now, because it would be so useful from a market/packing up point of view. Businesses who use crates don’t just give them away, however, and I wasn’t sure how I was going to acquire one for myself.  I got very excited by a bright pink crate outside a health shop in Sea Point last week but it belonged to the bakery who delivers the sugarless oat biscuits and I had to walk away from it.

The Woodstock crate was particularly attractive because it was wide with low sides, more like a bakery crate than a milk crate. It was a bit broken on one side but I felt I could overlook that because the colour made up for it.
I continued past the crate as if it held no interest for me at all, and proceeded to Wool World on the hunt for suitable cotton for bikinis. Coming back, the crate was still there. This is always the sign for me when I spot something on the side of the road – if it’s still there on my second cruising, it’s meant for me.

I thought I should check with the nearest shop, since I don’t ever want to get caught stealing anything, so I went in. It was a café (in South Africa this is a corner shop, where you get bread, newspapers, cigarettes, sweets, etc, maybe you’d call it a newsagent in the UK; not a café like you would find on the cobblestoned streets of Paris) and I asked the man at the till if the crate was his.

Man: I don’t know.

Me: But does it belong to you?

Man: I’m not sure. I’m just looking after the shop for my friend.

Me: Okay, but do you think that crate belongs to him?

Man: What crate?

Me: There’s a dirty old broken crate outside, and if it’s for junk then I want it.

Man: What for?

Me: You know what, never mind, it’s fine, it’s fine. Keep the crate.

Man: Maybe it’s not broken.

Me: It is broken but it doesn’t matter. Thanks.

Man: Take the crate.

Me: But maybe it belongs to your friend who owns the shop?

Man: He’s not really my friend. Take it.

Here is my lovely crate, in the process of being packed up for the Pinelands market on Saturday.  See – it doesn’t take much to make me happy!?!!

To be continued…