A Baribo day at Sooke, Langford and Mill Bay

We went down to Sooke last week to interview for a house sit that will take us through most of the summer.  Since that's where we're looking for house, the location will come in handy.

There's still only two thrift shops in town.  The St Vincent de Paul has never been too exciting but just as we left, I spied on the clearance rack outside a familiar-looking tray.  Originally priced at $1, it was final offer so I picked it up for a mere 10 cents including tax.  Nice shape too and the cheapest one we've ever bought as an individual item (bag sale at Churches of Salmon Arm doesn't count).

The Sooke Community thrift shop wasn't very exciting this time so we headed on to Langford. Usual rounds of the St Vincent de Paul, Salvation Army and WIN there, as well as the ReStore. Nothing exciting either, except for a 50 cent medium size Baribo bowl at the St Vincent de Paul.

We had some coupons from the WIN from their 1 year anniversary in January but nothing to be bought as clothing seems to be the stock at this shop.

Next was the Salvation Army in View Royal which has one of the best selections in Victoria. We initially found a lot of Glo-Hill pieces but most were overpriced for their rather-poor condition. We also found this rare Baribo carousel, which we've only seen one of previously (a collector in Kelowna), for just $2. We also saw a Baribo cheese board but it had a satin finish similar to the carousel, not our favorite.  Rather expensive too.

Heading back north, we stopped at the Salvation Army in Mill Bay where I found Glo-Hill steak knives in the best condition I've ever seen them in.  Perusing through, I instinctively pulled out from under a pile of other things this Baribo double slate cheese board, remarkably with the cheese knives on it (they were not fastened with anything).  Not the cheapest at $7 but a rare item in great condition.

Collecting cans and bottles for charity....

Lucky Lager:The booze of choice for yahoos on Vancouver Island 

We've been doing a lot of housesitting, or rather, that is what we do while we are not travelling. Almost all the house sits involve animals and if they are dogs, require walking.  We walk the dogs everyday, if not twice or thrice daily.  Since that involves walking on roadways, we see a lot of road litter. Where we are in Lake Cowichan, there's a Tim Horton outlet and as a result, a lot of Tim Horton cups everywhere.  Even worse, there are a lot of alcohol containers thrown out of vehicles, sometimes pretty full and sometimes not.  Sometime last year in Maple Bay, I would find a lot of large Heineken bottles, many of which survived a fall on the rock landscape.  I get to observe what these yahoos drink and their booze of choice on Vancouver Island, it would seem, is Lucky Lager as that's about half of all alcohol containers that I find.

I do admit to collecting these cans and bottles.  Since we drink our fair share of wine, I have to bring bottles to return anyway and if I am going, I might as well make it worth my while.

You may ask, what can one buy for 10 cents (deposit on a beer can or bottle, or wine bottle in these parts)?  Well, a lot of quality items - even vintage Canadiana - if you shop at thrift shops which we do for almost all our non-food and beverage purchases.  So I can say I (indirectly) collect cans and bottles for charity.

Vntage Glo-Hill tray and Baribo cheese knife - 10 cents each, including tax

Spot the tick

Collecting bottles can also be handy in other ways.  Walking dogs in these parts often results in them getting ticks.  I've picked 2 unfed ticks off the big dog and also two attached ones which we kept in case the dog gets ill.   I found a mickey of Bols vodka the other day that still had quite a bit of alcohol remaining - not that I would ever drink it - which came in handy after finding two ticks on ol' Frank. What better to preserve them than in fine vodka?