Yom assal, yom bassal

That phrase means (in Arabic) "One day honey, one day onion." As my parents and I drove to our next destination on Tuesday, I mentioned to them that I had been in a foul mood on Monday, and my dad immediately sighed and said "Yom assal, yom bassal." So Monday was my onion day and Tuesday was my honey day....sums it up perfectly.

Oh...I need to apologise for the delay in the publishing of this instalment of my day with my parents. Mr. Commentbox arrived home this afternoon from a week-long business trip to New Zealand, and one of his first remarks was "I can't believe you kept us all hanging....I kept checking and checking your blog....and nothing!" Now, of course, you will all be hugely disappointed because my parents did not buy me a new car, or have me drive to the airport and get on a flight to Europe, or.........It was just a simple day really....really!

So, from the breakfast cafe we drove here - an auction centre which my mom had read about. We were not planning to buy anything, we were there to simply take in the atmosphere and people watch. At first, as we walked into the huge warehouse I had my doubts about the entertaining nature of the venue. But soon I found myself surrounded by tables, chairs, cupboards, rugs, spa baths, bird cages, very old children's toys, tacky paintings etc etc. Naturally, I had not brought my camera....sorry guys.

Believe me when I tell you that it was absolutely fascinating to see what people were willing to pay money for, and it was equally fascinating to see how much of the furniture was actually very good. The auctioneer (a tiny woman) was standing on a podium which was wheeled around by two men, and she was selling every single item in that entire warehouse. There was very heavy bidding on a rusted orange squeezer, a box filled with broken chandelier crystals, a VCR circa 1980, I kid you not!

As all of this was going on, trucks kept arriving at the other end of the building with more stuff. There were many men in saggy tracksuits buying old electrical appliances, several young couples probably looking to furnish their first apartment, a woman dressed in a funky skirt & leggings, holding an adorable baby and eyeing an armchair on which an elderly woman (dressed in her Sunday best) was sitting and nibbling on a tiny sandwich.

Even my dad had to admit that this made for excellent entertainment, GO MOM!!!! But people-watching is hungry work....so we had to leave for our next adventure....stay tuned.......