The Oxfam shop lies at the corner of the very bottom of the High Street beneath the faded glory of the snooker hall. A betting man, which I am not, would feel confident that this is a position which betrays its past usage as a retailer of mens bespoke suitings. It is across the paved pedestrian precinct from the Turkish supermarket, once the site of a Woolworths which sold things that people wanted. Now the Oxfam sells things people don't.
All charity shops suggest decline. The Walthamstow Oxfam shop is no exception. But it just won't lie down and accept this. Every few months, someone tries to instill a sense of dynamism into its sad displays of detritus from house clearances and broken love-lives.
At such times, the large glass display windows are reconfigured with exciting items handed in during opening hours; some 1970s avocado and paisley crockery or an original work of art for eight ninety-nine. Rare first editions, for as much as three ninety-nine will be placed in the window looking out towards the Turkish shop. Paintings in very thin frames face the Costcutter and dry cleaners across a zebra crossing on the other side of St James Street. Items that arrive out of hours will be rifled through by morning and what is left end up as landfill.
For what makes it through the double swing doors on days the shop is open - sometimes even Sunday afternoons - a sale will be held; three paperbacks on the general shelf for a pound, including those in the classics section, normally seventy- or ninety-nine. The carpet will be hoovered and boxes of old LPs - Tijuana Brass or boxed sets of Beethoven's symphonies tidied up and placed near the check-out. Choice items of bric a brac will be placed in the windows next to the doors. Accompanying this frenetic excitement a petition of some kind may appear for the public to sign - Save Coppermill Library or Support the Allotment Holders of Leyton against Lord Coe's evil Olympic Land Grab. The radio will play loudly while volunteer staff help place reduced items of clothing in plastic bags for the queuing customers after their purchase, the penny change sometimes dropped into the green plastic collection 'tin' by the till. Make Poverty History.
Talking of which, I discovered an interesting fact about Oxfam's efforts in the third world. They do not operate in the Central African Republic. A few facts about the place: 67% of the population of this land-locked country earn under US$1 per day, 38% of the 4.2 million population under 5 are chronically malnourished, life expectancy is 43 years, 40% of the population die of malaria and the country receives 60% less foreign aid than it did in 1985. The President, Jean-Francois Bozize was elected in a process UN observers described as 'free and fair'. He has a mere 4000 soldiers in his army. So come on Oxfam, get in there and do some good. If you want to know how, contact Toby Lanzer, the United Nations Resident Co-ordinator for the CAR. Check out their website at www.hdptcar.net.
But I digress. At present, after a period in the past few months of confusion in the book department- the books are in fairly good order and mainly properly priced. I recently bought copies of Yann Martel's 'pseudo-plagiaristic' Booker Prize winning novel 'Life of Pi' and the brilliant Peter Ustinov's 'Krumnagel'.
Possibly more concerning, in the past few months, there were clothes on the shelves without prices on. Perhaps the staff have forgotten, but some of the customers come in to buy clothes because they are really very strapped for cash indeed. Making them wait while someone goes out the back to 'price' the goods - i.e ask the manager to pluck a figure out of the air - can be humiliating or stressful for a person with no spare change, guv. It is important that Oxfam price the goods clearly and help retain the dignity of the people they serve.
I note that there has not been much community activity inside the shop recently - even the old poster from Friends of the Earth for a meeting already past to meet your MP - Neil Gerrard not actually given the courtesy of being named - has recently disappeared along with the board it was pinned to. The rest of the notices in the Oxfam seem to concern themselves with warnings about pickpockets and threats to prosecute thieves. This may be warranted by the corner round Oxfam being something of a local crime 'hotspot' but it would be nice if there was a little more being promoted than just crime information. We have a vibrant civil society locally.
The windows on the High Street in the autumn had some excellent and reasonably priced artwork on display, by local artist Valeria Bateson (tel 0208 521 0973). Her pictures were of the musicians of the Forest Philharmonic, during their threatened last season based in our borough. A different artist, Padmayogini, (AKA Wendy) then had her work featured, of collages on a Buddhist theme. I shall leave it to the readers to decide if the current exhibition amounts to art or is really some interesting decorative design.
I love the Oxfam shop. I love it for the quieter times even when there is no sale. I hold no hope that I will change the world by going there anyway- even with the paperbacks often costing more than they should and the only real bargains among the hardbacks at forty-nine pence. I like it when its quiet because I prefer clear line of sight to the shelves, no other customers' or their shopping blocking my view. My eyes quickly glide past the Jilly Coopers and biographies of seventies politicians to light on authors' works no longer to be found at the German chain bookshop in the Mall at the top of the market.
The smells of death and hospitals (never as pronounced as they used to be at the recently refreshed Crest, a rival Local charity for Local People up the High Street) can be ignored on days when the bedsits of Walthamstow disgorge their Kundera, Skvorecky, Klima or Gore Vidal. Here is literature I want to read, life, even truth to be had for less than a pound. One turn of my head to the right could lead to a weekend of dreams. And if there are no treasures, if all the books are duds, if my neck aches for nothing and the shuffling sideways is in vain, there is always next week. Or Crest and Help the Aged.