One of the major downsides ...

... of "trendy" shops moving into the really neat pedestrian neighbourhoods is that the old-fashioned-type secondhand/junk shops have pretty much been squeezed out of business everywhere. It's been many many years since I last brought home a cool eggcup ... the upscale antique stores simply don't have 'em (if anything they tend to have those boring, characterless glass hens that were being sold new in the eighties, trying to pass 'em off as something old).






And it is my everlasting regret that I once missed out on the chance to buy the best one I ever saw ... similar to the upward-looking green bird third from the left, but, instead of a "Hey, there's something up there!" expression, the one that got away looked extremely pissed off at the realization that someone had lopped off the top of his head and was proposing to replace it with a hot egg.