A mobylette….check out the state of the seat…and the front non-tire.

Vide-grenier season is in full swing. A vide-grenier, or ”empty the attic,” is a kind of flea market or mass garage sale. It isn’t like the famous flea markets of Paris, with established vendors and quaint shops. It’s for non-professionals, mostly.

You pack up your no-longer-loved possessions into your car and then try to unload them on somebody willing to pay a couple of euros. The biggest segment by far is kids’ clothes and toys.

Followed by adult clothes. Then kitchen stuff, decorating stuff, tools and books/records/CDs etc.

French stars: Johnny Hallyday, Serge Gainsbourg (with Jane Birkin), wild asparagus.

Sometimes you find treasures. We got a couple of crystal sconces. Some interesting pictures. A cheese cloche. That’s over about a dozen vide-greniers in a couple of months.

A bargain for a little dish to cook pâté in the oven!

Not…