A Pig in a Poke

This is how I got into buying sheets in a big way and became, I believe, the biggest dealer, ending up with a stock of over 800!

I stopped at a Brocante shed near Marmande in the South West - usual sign said 'ferme' - CLOSED - so rang the tel. no. scribbled there. Madame answered, slightly breathless, saying she had just collected a huge load in her van and would I like to come and view it all. By the time we reached her ramshackle farm, she had opened not only her van doors but a good bottle (or two) to recover from loading it. An amazing sight it was - pile upon pile of creamy (and grubby) sheets, bolster cases, tablecloths, napkins and hundreds of torchons, the entire contents of an old vineyard farm's linen store. The van was chock-a-block.
Madame was now fairly incoherent but dismised it all as useless old peasant stuff and wanted to sell us 'much better things'. Though I had no idea of the value or use of this load, she acepted a ridiculous bid for the lot, much to our amazement, and we spent the evening loading it into our van and trailer. When I got home I hung a pair of the lovely coarse hemp sheets in my spare bedrom as temporary curtains - everyone adored them and I had a wonderful new use for sheets, an idea which was copied by a great many decorators, and the French housewives then started turning out all their old sheets, regardless of condition!! And so it all began.....