Stories Collected While Living in France

French la Vie

Do You Have the Brocante Bug?

 

brocante bug

How to recognize the brocante bug:

The person infected with the brocante bug usually is not in bed sleeping on a Saturday or Sunday morning.

Their homes have a certain look about them. 

A person who has the brocante bug usually stops the car if they see —

An old table leg, a patch of fabric, or worse, a peeling-paint-ruin-of-a-thing sticking out of a dumpster.

Usually, someone suffering from the brocante bug knows the only cure is to keep on antiquing, as there isn't a cure.

A person with the brocante bug prefers something old to something new. Unless it is food.

The brocante person often forgets how they look as they only have eyes for that old stuff.

The brocante bug is said not to be contagious… but a person who has the brocante bug badly knows that is not a fact to count on. For example, when you have the brocante bug badly, you know that if you take a friend to the brocante, they most likely will develop symptoms instantly, grabbing germs (pieces) that you would have gladly suffered with had they not been around.

A person with the brocante bug carries a big tattered-looking purse, if you dare call it that.

Instead of lipstick or perfume in their purse, they have loose change, a tape measure, and a flashlight.

Do you have symptoms of the brocante bug, or know of symptoms to be aware of?

Comments

12 responses to “Do You Have the Brocante Bug?”

  1. Jacklynn Lantry

    Some of my symptoms:
    1) I’ve been caught in dumpsters-and kicked out (my daughter was mortified.)
    2) I stopped traffic on both side of the street so I could roll out a rug that I saw in a garbage bin (it was a super win!)
    3) I dragged an old door (I’m 5′ 2″, the door was 6′ 6″) through the streets of Manhattan when I was in graduate school (I made a desk out of it.)
    4) I planned a trip to France just to meet Corey, lol!

    Reply
  2. Marilyn

    Not as much as I use to, but still carry the tape measure. Every once in the while I still need to just stroll through an antique mall and take it all in.

    Reply
  3. Franki

    I’ve learned to control it…mostly. However, I think the ‘B.Bug’ once caught is actually incurable. I can live with that…and embrace the next attack.

    Reply
  4. Ali

    Oh yes to the tape measure…
    Ali

    Reply
  5. Natasha

    Lol I most definitely have the brocante bug – so much so that it’s so difficult to not compare the brocante bug to the boring flea markets we have in Canada!
    You forgot to mention , you carry snacks in the car and have no time to pee when you are driving from one brocante to the next on the same day 😂

    Reply
  6. Chris Wittmann

    Oh most definitely I do have the brocante bug! I’ve had it since I was very young. I used to beg my mother to buy antiques instead of repro furniture, but she didn’t listen to me. About 35 years ago I recall dumpster diving with a friend outside a fancy restaurant we had just eaten at to retrieve some beautifully shaped wine bottles much to the horror of our husbands! Though not old, they were perfect for my herbal vinegar project. I’m always bringing something “old and chippy” home. My hubby has said, “Where did THAT come from??” more times than I can remember!

    Reply
  7. Bonnie Schulte

    Ha,Corey, all of your comments are right on! Been doing the Flea Markets here in the states for the last 40 years. The thrill of the hunt never goes away. And I always carry a magnifying glass, it comes in handy now and then. I never know what I’m looking for, but I’ll know when I spy it. Lots of fun for sure!

    Reply
  8. Diogenes

    Moi? You know it’s true. I do, I do.

    Reply
  9. gina lanman

    “Kindred Spirits” indeed and you have the best way of putting it in words! xoxoxo

    Reply
  10. Chrisophe

    Suffering from withdrawal because there aren’t many brocantes or vide greniers in my area this time of year.

    Reply
  11. Leslie in Oregon

    I hate to be a spoilsport, but no, I don’t have the brocante bug. While I love history and am a Francophile and so probably would relish many of Corey’s finds, I have never wanted to accumulate possessions and never have enjoyed shopping anywhere in the world. I know that makes me an odd duck, but c’est moi!

    Reply
  12. aportmanteau

    Oh yes, I definitely have the bug, but in my city we get begin getting up early on Friday for estate sales, sometimes even Thursday. When I first started following the sales, there weren’t many going on during the winter. Now that the city has grown from one mullion people to nearly six million in the metro area, they go on year-round. I think the “junking” bug first bit me in the 60’s at a little Florida antique/junk shop called The White Elephant. Although I’ve been to antique/flea markets big and small around the US, France in 2012 and 2014, and yard sales galore, my best finds now (for the best prices) seem to be from estate sales. Fun! Fun! Fun!

    Reply

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