Spitalfields

Bought yesterday from a stall at Spitalfields a Thirty-Fourth Edition of Salter's Guide to The Thames with Maps and Illustrations.

Army & Navy Stores, Victoria 1234

Once upon a time in Arcadia, as long ago as the year of Our Lord and other curses 1871, ladies and gentlemen abroad on the streets of London or indeed abroad on campaign and in need of tackles could reach for the comfort of their Army & Navy Catalogue safe in the knowledge that within its pages could be found not only fishing tackle but everything else that was needed to make life bearable.  Indeed, the Army & Navy Co-operative Society was formed to supply 'articles of domestic consumption and general use to its members at the lowest remunerative rates'

Sadly, the Army & Navy were bought out in 1976 but despair not if you are a lady or gentleman abroad on the streets or indeed on campaign in East London for upon my stall in Spitalfields Antiques Market every Thursday between the hours of 8am and 3 I sell items of Vintage Fishing Tackle for the Soul including some which would have one day have sat on the shelves of Army & Navy in Victoria Street and elsewhere.

Lost Wallet Found

Found recently amongst a lot bought at auction an embossed crocodile leather Army & Navy cast and tackle wallet dressed with old quill floats and stamped with the legend 'Army & Navy C, S. Ltd 105 Victoria St. London.

In Celebration of the Movable Feast of St. Nicholas

In a kitchen in Arcadia a kettle is boiled, a glass of Victory Gin is raised, dogs and cats are kissed and a loud cheer is heard as delivery is taken of a large cardboard box which has come overnight from Ledbury in Herefordshire.   There is nothing remarkable about the box except that over the course of the last two years it has gone to and fro London North and Ledbury almost a dozen times.   Despatched westwards with 500 plain brown paper bags purchased from Gardners on Commercial Street it always returns a small while later with the same paper bags lit gloriously by the printed letterpress of Martin Clark of Tilley Printing.

Today's delivery contained a quantity of bags printed In Celebration of the Movable Feast of St. Nicholas and heralds the announcement that on Tuesday 3rd December 2013 Andrews of Arcadia will meet Farlows Uptown when my stall selling Vintage Fishing Tackle For the Soul *SHALL APPEAR*.  The paper bags are currently in circulation and may be obtained directly from Farlows on Pall Mall from tomorrow, from my own stall at Spitalfields on Thursdays and from street corner handbill urchins at all points in between.

The Caught by the River Social Club - Next Monday!

You are given notice that from 7pm *NEXT MONDAY EVENING* on 11th November 2013 at The Caught by the River Social Club upstairs in The Queens Head Public House on Denman Street, Piccadilly, alongside readings and conversation from and by Tim Dee, Mathew Clayton, Laura Beatty, verse from the poet Will Burns and musical accompaniment from Frances Castle, the author and broadcaster Michael Smith will be presenting a premiere of 'Black Beach' from a new series of films called 'Another England' which he has made in collaboration with his childhood friend the director Maxy Bianco.  Mr. Bianco kindly sent me a link to one of the other films in the series entitled 'Old Town' which can be watched here over a pot of tea drunk Trawlerman style.

Three Hundred Andrew Field Floats

The float maker Mr. Andrew Field telephoned to tell me he has spent the last year making three hundred of his high finish handmade floats based largely on traditional patterns all of which will be for sale from his stall at the National Vintage Fishing Tackle Fair in a fortnight's time on Sunday 17th November.

Way Beyond Subtopia

A late return along wet autumn roads from a most restorative afternoon at an auction house Way Beyond Subtopia.