Car Booty - Carrick on Shannon

I know the Boot in Car Boot Sale doesn't necessarily stand for Booty as in Pirate's Chest Full O' Booty but sometimes I think it should.

Any Sunday morning when I get the chance, I head over to the Carrick-on-Shannon car boot sale. It's starts at 9 and runs until the afternoon (I find closing times vary between 2 and 5 depending on how busy it is). It's located at the Supreme Petrol Station on the N4 on your way to Sligo.

Last time I went I got 4 balls of lovely dark blue Aran Tweed wool for a euro! I also got a nifty little cd holder for 20 cents and a few books at a varying degree of prices.

The regulars who go seem to be some dudes selling tools and workboots, a few "antique" stalls with overpriced things that no one would even want anymore (like heavy 1980's video recorders,) a man selling loads of old vinyl who claims to have an exensive selection of psychedelia records at home that don't make it often enough to the sale and charity stalls doing the odd tidbits of clothes and candleholders and the like. You also seem lots of old tools and house things. There tends to be about 3/4's of an hours worth of browsing to be had and it seems like there are always more people wanting stall than there is space.

Bargain em' down! Once when I was there with a friend in the winter I was standing at a stall where this old lady had all sorts on the go. A farmer looking fellow came over to enquire into the cost of an old piano accoridian with several keys missing.
"150," she tells em.
Old farmer man walks away.
My friend (a young guy who looks a bit like a city slicker) came by and knelt down to investigate the instrument.
"200," the old one harks at him.
So, as always, haggle! If she woulda took 150 from one customer she'd have taken it from another.

Trinity Books - Carrick on Shannon

I used to be intimidated by collectors bookshops, anything that had antiquarian or rare in the name immediately sent my cheap-dar to high alert of no-go. But I've come to understand that all book shops end up with things that can't be sold off at collector's prices: books that might have seemed worthwhile at a quick glance but turned out to be too scuffed or scratched or page 29 is a 4 year old's crayon Picasso imitation or it's simply the wrong edition.

With no big bucks to be made, bookshops will often want rid of these in anyway possible which can mean good deals to you!

Trinity Books is down a quaint small alley off Bridge Street in Carrick on Shannon straight across from the Bank of Ireland. You entire through the room of lovely beautiful fine bound editions. If you take a left through the doorway, you enter THE SALE ROOM (to be read in a loud boomy echoy voice). Every time I visit there seems to be a large table full of books they just want gone. At the moment, they are hundreds of books going 3 for 2 euro.

Some american friends were visiting recently and they found a whole heap of stuff to take home from the table. Nice old child's books on Irish mythology, a history of Bloody Sunday and a few poetry chapbooks. I tend to find lots of short story anthologies here and books that make great clip art.

The Ballymote Junk Shop

Ballymote is a small town in Sligo which can be reached either by long windy roads that don't seem to go anywhere or else by train on the Sligo-Dublin route. Near the train station there is a fairly big old warehouse building which seems like it was once a community hall and where now, a few guys run a junk shop. Two friends and I went to check out the goods.

Downstairs there's a confusing and quite disorgainised collection of furniture, books, cups, mugs, magazines and endless old Sega Megadrive games. Things were a bit on the pricey side but I'd say if you've got the gift of the haggle you might do alright.

Upstairs there's a small balcony that is filled with LPS and 7 inch records (Happy Birthday to the 7 inch record!). Mainly from the 70's and 80's and in a varying degree of conditions. One friend picked up about ten or so 7 inches until he was told they were a euro each. Kinda stiff for old scratchy Kylie Minogues!

In the end, I left empty handed. One friend bought a white label 12 inch in hopes of stumbling upon some lost gem but it turned out to be a school choir. The other friend got the 7 inch of Stand by Your Man.

All in all, there's a lot of hunting to be had in the junk shop but the junks a bit pricey and the goods are only so so.

The Wild Onion Cafe, Limerick

This is another amazing spot for free coffee refills. Owned and run by Americans (the undisputed heavyweight champions of the free refill culture), the Wild Onion is by far my favorite breakfast place in all of the island of Ireland.

When you order coffee, they bring you a lovely hot flask of delicious wonderful coffee right to your tabletop and they keep bringing it as long as you can keep drinking it.

Besides that, the portions are ginormous. More potatoes and eggs than you could shake a stick at. And it is all oh so very scrumptious.

Once I asked the owner if she would open up another Wild Onion down the road from me. She laughed hardily and quickly walked away shaking her head.

It's on the High Street of the Market Quarter of Limerick in close walking distance from lots and lots of cheapo charity shops.

DON'T GO SUNDAYS OR MONDAYS! Oh how very let down I have been to find myself in Limerick on a day when the Wild Onion is closed. Also, you gotta get there early cause they're done by 4 and lunchtime is a bit of a no-go zone.

Coffey's for free Coffee refills

Yesterday I was talking to a friend.

"I picked up an Englishman dressed like a wizard hitch hiking today," says he.
"Where was he off to?" ask I.
"He's walking around Ireland once again, as he has done before," says he.
How romantic, think I.
"But today I dropped him at Coffey's. He knew of the free refills."

Ah...Coffey's Pastry Case where Bridge Street meets the N4 in Carrick-on-Shannon. A place to sit upstairs and watch the River Shannon.

And most wonderful of all, FREE COFFEE REFILLS!

Recently in Dublin I ordered two coffees and a candy bar and paid almost eight euro. ICK ICK ICK. But at Coffey's you can idle away at least an hour or so with just a little bit of change.

Hello!

Growing up, my family lived by the code that if something was worth buying than it was worth getting on sale. We spent our weekends hunting out flea markets and yard sales at which my mom refused to spend more than 25 cents on anything.

This attitude has stuck with me through life and has made me an expert at finding bargains and deals. Thus I love to pick through car boot sales, charity shop treasures and book shop bargain bins. I've lived in Ireland for more than 8 years and have gathered up endless gems of knowledge of cheapness throughout the emerald isle.

I will now share my knowledge of living in Ireland while always on the hunt for a deal.